Hello! I bought this plant which was supposed to be Raspberry Sundae.

The flowers finally opened for me (mid to late) and they do not look like Raspberry Sundae. They are beautiful, though and I love them.

Colour is slightly paler pink than full bloom photo.
Fragrance is reminiscent of Festiva Maxima, bloom size similar.
Thin red edge on a few petals.
Current height almost 3 feet.
She is almost two full years on location.

The place I bought from had carried Sarah Bernhardt and Shirley Temple at the same time. The stems look too strong to be Sarah, and I thought Shirley is a bit paler. Could she be Shirley? I guess in a few days the opened bloom could fade and give me a better indication?

Thank you in advance!

That's a hard one. Shirley should have slightly smaller flowers and be a shorter plant than Sarah but they could look similar blooming. I didn't think Shirley had the red edging and it's supposed to bloom earlier than Sarah by a couple of weeks; if anyone knows for sure about the possibility of red that might be how to tell which yours is. In my experience Sarah only has an issue with holding up the blooms after they've gotten wet; at least before the plant is fully established. I think both have sidebuds once the plants are bigger and that's when Sarah runs into more issues with holding blooms up even without rain or wind.

Thank you, Liz! That's very helpful.

This is one big flower for sure, and on such a young plant! The half-opened one is about 4.5 inches in diameter so when fully opened I expect it to be close to 7 inches.

I'll see what happens in 2-3 days and update the photo then.

They are both gorgeous flowers, Daisy, so regardless of which you have it'll be a great addition to your garden. Now you'll just have to go back and find Raspberry Sundae!

I'm pretty convinced this peony is Sarah Bernhardt. Looking at many photos online has showed me similar colours and the faint red border on some petals. Same height and leaf colour too!

I think part of my confusion is because the same nursery that I bought this from had some large flowering plants for sale that were labeled Sarah Bernhardt but those plants had medium pink flowers.

This was over two weeks ago, so the timing was a little early for what should be a relatively late bloomer. I think now in hindsight that those "Sarah B" tagged blooming plants were likely a different cultivar.

I don't have very many peonies currently but they are almost all done. We have had an early season here. Just this last plant and one bloom off Marie Lemoine.

Thanks once again, Liz.

You're welcome, daisymv! You'll find that peonies are addictive once you get started, you'll be in good company here!

All my light pink peonies seem to fade to almost white after about 3 days of direct sunlight. Makes it very difficult to identify a cultivar from pictures.

Oldgardenrose said:All my light pink peonies seem to fade to almost white after about 3 days of direct sunlight. Makes it very difficult to identify a cultivar from pictures.

I hear you, Jerry.
I have been lucky with this ID'ing one only because of the other plants that were being sold with it at the same time.
These past few days we have had overcast weather and rain so the colour is minimally fading. The blooms flopped over, but funny enough only the stem with the smallest flower (barely opening) broke. He he, a good excuse to bring it indoors.