The Star of the Show

This is the best week of the year for me as a gardener--my tree peony is blooming! I have three Japanese  tree peonies, but this one is the oldest, biggest, and most spectacular. I planted this one in 1990 when we first made the perennial garden and it has been the showpiece of my front garden ever since. I don't know what it is about these flowers that I love so much--the anticipation, the short period of bloom, the fragrance, their fragile yet heavy flower heads--all the drama--but I really don't think there is a more beautiful flower. I could look at them and admire them all day. And I have been this week. From the moment I come downstairs in the morning and can see them outside the window, I  have been enjoying them (and photographing them) all day long. And let me just say that the day they first start to open is a pretty exciting day in this household.

Tree peonies bloom before the regular herbaceous peonies, and have bigger, heavier, and more fragrant flowers. When fully opened, the blooms are the size of a dinner plate.  A single bloom cut looks beautiful floating in a bowl.

A few blooms began opening last Saturday.

And by Sunday they looked like this. I counted--there are more than 50 blooms.

Tree peonies have a lovely fragrance, too. Another flower that I just want to smoosh my face into!  And they can live for centuries. I'm not aware of any other plant in my yard that is going to live that long!

It rained most of the day yesterday (finally!) and I took some pictures in the rain. I love this one.

Fortunately it was a gentle rain, so I hope the blooms will last another few days. Some years if we get a big storm right after they bloom they can be finished after just a day or so. This has been a good week for the tree peony.

If you are interested in peonies, and tree peonies in particular, a really good website is Peony's Envy. It is the best source I have found about all the different types of peonies, how to plant them, take care of them, transplant, etc. And you can order peonies directly from their catalog. Their farm is located in Bernardsville, NJ, and they have more than 30, 000 peonies in their gardens. Now that is something I would love to see! The National Arboretum downtown has a great collection of tree peonies also. Might have to make a visit there this weekend.