People say”what is a rose without perfume” I could say the same about peonies, what is the point of having one without a beautiful perfume when there are so many that smell so gorgeous! I know the flowers are fleeting, just a couple weeks at best, depending on the weather. Over the past few years I have been adding peonies to the garden ever since my lovely daughter gave me some in a birthday bouquet one year and I realised how wonderful their perfume is. At last they are now flowering, but not in the numbers yet that would mean I could pick armfulls of them for the house, never mind, that will come eventually I hope. Most of my photos are of the peonies flowering at the moment, I’ll start with P. Coral Charm which was the one that started this latest passion of mine.
No 1
P. Coral Charm lasts a good 2 weeks in water inside the house, I’m finding that outside with the wind and rain, so far it has lasted 9 days, but changing colour each day.
A few days later and the colour was fading, I think a bee has spent the night cuddled up inside the flower when it closed for the night. Eventually the colour fades to cream.
No 2.
This is P. Gardenia, such a ruffled ball of blowsiness and a wonderful perfume too, what more could you ask for!
My book says that this one is named from the shape of the flower looking like a gardenia but the perfume isn’t bad either!
No 3.
P. Jan van Leeuwen. This was the peony in another of my birthday bouquets, so of course it had to be included in the garden.
Beautiful when it opens up.
No 4.
Another lovely frilly one, this time P. Duchesse de Nemours.
I like the way that the flowers change shape as the days go by, one day quite flat and the suddenly they are almost round like a ball of petals.
What a contrast between the two!
No 5.
This years birthday bouquet has this one, I think P .Sarah Bernhardt. She opens up like a helping of raspberry ripple ice cream!
This years birthday bouquet with lots of beautiful peonies! This means of course that I will have to find room for a plant of P. Sarah Bernhardt in the garden this autumn!
No 6
For my last photo, and because I haven’t a 6th peony flowering at the moment, I thought I would show you how the mini meadow is coming on. The bees are loving all the extra pollen and nectar on offer!
There are lots more flowers than just daisies and buttercups, I don’t know if you remember the Pignut from last year? There are lots more this year than last so I hope they will spread even further. This is like a tiny cow parsley and was grown before Elizabeth 1 when Raleigh brought the potato here from the Americas. Back in the old days peasants had pigs that would turn the soil over and they ate the little tubers ( the peasants, not the pigs!) they are supposed to taste of hazelnuts, but I won’t be trying that out!
Thanks must go to my lovely daughter for inspiring me to plant peonies, she knows how I love them! Looking through my 2 Peony books I can see a few more that might get ordered in the autumn, all with gorgeous perfume, what will I do when I run out of space?!
Thanks must also go once more to Jon The Propagator for hosting, do pop over to see what is happening in the gardening world.
What a nice choice of peonies ! I only have 2 here, a tree peony ( yellow flowers) and a pale pink one. Yours are gorgeous.
They are all so gorgeous Fred, especially if they have a wonderful perfume! I did have a tree peony once but that seems to have disappeared somehow!
Beautiful flowers, and I like the mini meadow! I long to do hat to part of my back yard, but D. like lawn, boring lawn. I can see keeping some lawn, but I crave variety! I saw a demo “tapestry lawn” of various low growing things that tolerate some foot traffic and I think that would be a fun thing to do.
So glad you like my mini meadow Elizabeth, I have rather a lot of lawn so am quite happy to have the circular lawn turn into a meadow for the summer months. I haven’t planted anything into the lawn, just allowed it grow long and see what pops up if you dont use any chemicals on it. It all gets cut back in August and reverts to ordinary lawn once more.
That last picture is particularly lovely, Pauline, but so are your peonies of course. It must be lovely to have a bouquet of peonies – in my SoS today I too was saying it would be a long time before I have enough here for a vase!
I must have twice as many pignut flowers this year Cathy, hopefully it will continue to increase each year. I would have thought you could do something artistic with just one peony flower for your IAVOM!
I don’t think I’ve ever sniffed a Peony. That’s a lovely selection. I always feel a bit cheated if I bury my nose in a rose and it isn’t fragrant.
I too had never sniffed a peony flower before my daughter sent me some for my birthday one year Graeme, what a wonderfdul surprise it was. Claire Austin has written a book about peonies and states if each one is perfumed or not and whether the perfume is strong, medium or slight, no excuse not to buy a perfumed one!
What a beautiful selection Pauline. I will be checking mine for perfume as soon as they open. I know I have Sarah Bernhardt but the names of some are long gone. This year I have bought some Itoh peonies for the first time. I don’t think they will flower this year though.
Thanks Denise, I have been absolutely amazed at the beautiful perfume of some of them, so unexpected.I think peonies take a couple of years to settle down before flowering, most of mine were bought 2 yrs ago and some aren’t flowering yet, I just hope that they are making plenty of roots, their foliage certainly looks healthy.
Wow, those peonies are simply stunning, the perfume is a bonus too. I just love your meadow, I can see how the pollinators would gravitate to it.xxx
Plants that are so beautiful but so fleeting have a special place in the garden Dina. The meadow is getting better day by day as new flowers open. It’s amazing what a selection of flowers is hiding in a mown lawn if you don’t use chamicals and what appears when you stop mowing for a bit.x