Peonies are popular garden plants, known for their stunning flowers, their cold hardiness and the huge variety of their colors, forms and habits. They are divided into two main groups: herbaceous, which die to the ground in the fall, and tree peonies, deciduous plants with woody stems which they retain throughout the winter. A third category, the Itoh or intersectional peonies display the extravagant blooms of tree peonies on herbaceous stems. All peonies bloom between April and June; flowers on tree peonies appear 1-2 weeks before those of the herbaceous peonies. Introduced in 1888, ‘Mons. Jules Elie,’ is an extremely popular herbaceous peony with a bomb style bloom. Rose guard petals surround a “bomb” of recurved silvery pink petals producing a very large and fragrant flower suitable for cutting. Peony bloom time is classified as early, mid and late – ‘Mons. Jules Elie’ is a mid-late season bloomer. It grows to 30” tall, taking on a shrubby appearance throughout the summer, then dies to the ground in the fall. Plant in sun to part shade with eyes no more than 2” below the soil surface. Deer resistant.