Does anyone recognize who this might be?

Festiva Maxima? Pretty common peony, often sold at Walmart and other big box stores.

Peony (Paeonia lactiflora 'Festiva Maxima')

I thought so too, but wasn't sure about the row of pink petals that stood out along the bottom.

Great fragrance also on the Festiva Maxima!

Festiva Maxima doesn't have a row of pink guard petals.

graycrna4u said: Festiva Maxima doesn't have a row of pink guard petals.

that's what I thought, some of the photos show a hint of pink, but these seem more than that.

I'd agree with Gary that it's not Festiva Maxima.

Unfortunately it will be tough to assign a name to this one as quite a few peonies have this form. It would come down to taking a look at some other plant traits like height, bloom time and leaf characteristics and even then it might be tough. She is a beauty, though!

yes I went through the data base and didn't come up with anything.

could be Madame Calot

AlexUnder said: could be Madame Calot

es, that is a good contender! Thank you!

This is the photo on the American Peony Society site. https://americanpeonysociety.o...



Peony (Paeonia lactiflora 'Mme. Calot')
The photos on the database here do not look correct to me? The first one does look like the one on the peony society site. All the others (posted by the same member) all look different. I am wondering if that person has misidentified it?

Sometimes the same peonies look different under different growing conditions, age of the plants also matters. I saw pictures online of peony Lady Alexander Duff once that looked similar to yours, but they could be mis-IDed as well. That's why it is hard to ID it with 100% certainty unless it is easily recognizable.
It could be another Calot creation as well...
https://pivoinesriviere.com/pr...
https://pivoinesriviere.com/pr...

yes I do know they can vary alot, so that makes it hard. The plant in my moms new yard is huge, so it's had to have been there for a lot of years. There is nothing else in the yard worth 5 cents, so I'm guessing it's a common easy to find and not expensive variety, they obviously didn't spend money or seek out anything out of the ordinary. I would honestly just guess the festiva one, if it were not for the pink petals being so pronounced.

Other reasons that Mme Calot is a good guess - it's an early bloomer, and it's an old variety - likely to have been planted a long-ago garden.

Just a thought- Peonies are a favorite passalong plant, like iris, lily of the valley, daylilies and etc. If most of the garden material seems to be something coming from the thrifty side of the aisle, it's something to consider. This peony may be much older than the home and neighborhood where it was found.