What is this plant?

April 29, 2015 11:43 AM

We have two unidentified plants in our Chicago backyard - what are they? Pictures inside.

Can you help us identify these plants? We know basically nothing about plants or gardening (sorry if this is a really common plant!) but we're trying to figure out what kind of plant these are so we can take care of them. We're in Chicago and they are in the shade most of the day.

posted by cimton to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Looks like the way my bleeding heart does, as it starts growing in the spring, but I could be totally wrong.
posted by kellyblah at 11:52 AM on April 29, 2015

Best answer: I'm thinking Tree Peony.
posted by oxisos at 11:54 AM on April 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Tree Peony. There are many varieties and the shapes of leaves differ quite a bit among them. But if you look around at the Google Images you'll find some very similar to yours.
posted by beagle at 12:11 PM on April 29, 2015

Best answer: Nthing tree peony. Cool!
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:19 PM on April 29, 2015

Best answer: Yeah tree peony to my eyes as well.
posted by leslies at 2:27 PM on April 29, 2015

Response by poster: Yay, thanks everyone! Reading up on tree peonies and now I'm super excited to see it bloom - from what I've read it looks like it should bloom over the next few weeks!
posted by cimton at 2:36 PM on April 29, 2015

Best answer: Tree peony, and you'll just die when it blooms. Mine bloom with flowers almost as big as my face (no lie)! Tree peonies (at least the four I have) do not have an issue with ants the way shrub-type peonies do, either.
posted by ersatzkat at 6:50 PM on April 29, 2015

Response by poster: My tree peonies bloomed over the last 24 hours and it is astonishing how lovely (and big!!!) the flowers are. Here is a picture if anyone is interested!
posted by cimton at 4:35 PM on May 17, 2015 [2 favorites]