Looking through catalogs and pictures I find that some of the early yellow Itohs look extremely similar if not outrageously the same. How difficult to distinguish plants and flowers of Bartzella, Prairie Charm, Garden Treasure, etc. basically yellow with reddish center? What are the differences? Never had a chance to see them side by side, hence the question.

For some it is the plant form, large upright or sublata. Size of flower. Type of stamens etc. I agree they are very similar.

Garden Treasure is shorter than Batzella, for example, in plant structure, and I think the flowers are a bit larger too. Similar yes, but the differences are pretty significant. Side by side, they don't look like copies of each other at all, at least I don't believe so. They are yellows but even the colors aren't the same.

Garden Treasure




Bartzella

Garden Treasure looks much fuller. Both are absolutely beautiful, Karen!
3 more to compare! This is Smith Family Yellow

Yumi

and Sonoma Halo All first year flowers!

Wow, Sonoma Halo is gorgeous! I love the intense yellow color, the ruffling of the outer petals and the cupped form of the inner petals. What a beautiful effect!

Sonoma Halo will probably be more full next year, Liz. In person it looks a lot like a giant yellow carnation on an established plant.

Ideally you would want a DNA sequence analysis to distinguish between two closely appearing cultivars. That is not currently available to most of us, so descriptions and pictures of the whole plant are necessary. Many of the ITOHs do not show the true flowers until they are well established. I think the APS and CPS have good descriptions of the most prevalent cultivars. You need to take in to account the flowering week as well. I just planted Grace Root which is similar to Coral Fay, but Coral Fay flowers early, and Grace Root flowers later.

I am looking at Liz Yumi flower and it looks exactly my Smith Family Yellow after division ...

By the way, I read somewhere that Garden Treasure smells somehow better and different from other Itohs?

All of the yellows I posted pics of are 1st year, expect bigger and better next year! Tracey, I saw Sonoma Halo at the APS convention year before last, absolutely fell in love with it!

Karen, have you noticed Garden Treasure smells different than the other Itohs?

What can you make of this one?

It appears to be creamy colored.
Was it supposed to be yellow?
Or has it changed from another color?
How old is the plant?
I always wonder if peony color is affected by nutrients in soil?

it is more yellowish than on photo...for whatever reason the camera is not showing true color... about 3 years...

So it is an established plant.
But it is hard to tell from just flower.
What do leaves look like?

Hi Caroline,
the 3rd picture has some leaves - bottom right. Or something more specific?

Right!
Finely divided leaves should give us some clues.
I am away from home and don't have my peony books.
But will look that up. It does give info on parentage.

Could it be Yellow Dream which flowers early?

I thought that it is Bartzella, but find it not too high and not too vigorous ...Yellow Dream flowers online pictures look semi double, I think mine is more full, but I could be wrong.

The height, color and flower form look like Bartzella to me. Garden Treasure is not as tall so I feel like I'm pretty confident that that isn't it.