The herbaceous peony is one of the cut flowers that has become increasingly popular in the international market in recent years. In the study, 11 cultivars of herbaceous peonies suitable for cutting flowers were selected; different harvesting stages (three or four stages) were identified according to bud development observation (bud firmness, bud diameter, sepal angle, petal angle, and color showing). Moreover, flower development and vase life were also recorded in the experiment of vase. Bud development observation shows that there are great differences in optimum harvesting stage between the culti- vars, especially between the hybrid peony group and lactiflora group. This implies that bud diameter could not be the only indicator for optimum harvest- ing stage. Bud description, including sepal opening angle, sepal color, petal color showing, and degree of firmness, is necessary for the determination of the harvesting stage. Among the 11 cultivars, 'Pink Hawaiian Coral', 'Red Charm', 'Edulis Superba', 'Red Magic', and 'Sarah Bernhardt' should be harvested at stage 1. 'Duchesse de Nemours', 'Taff', 'Sorbet' and 'Monsieur Jules Elie' should be harvested at stage 2. 'Kansas' should be at stage 3 and 'Karl Rosenfield' at stage 4. The determination of optimum harvesting stage for each cultivar is an important element in cut flower production.
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