“Peony Pink,” Explore #444, January 11, 2012 by Puzzler4879
In the last post, TheGardenLady talked about the hellebores in her garden that make people stop and compliment. Today she will talk about another flower in her garden that has the WOW factor.  These flowers are peonies.
Paeonia lactiflora-sinensis ✽ Pivoine herbacée “Bossuet” ✽ Herbaceous peony “Bossuet” ✽ Pivoine de Chine ✽ Chinese Peony. by ✿ nicolas_gent ✿
People are especially complimentary when the Chinese tree peonies are in bloom. It is hard not to admire the gorgeous 8 inch flowers These shrub like plants can produce almost a hundred plate-sized flowers when the shrub is mature. The Chinese tree peony, either because it blooms earlier and is sturdier, does not seem to have the flower stems knocked over as readily as the herbaceous peonies. Still when the herbaceous peonies are in flower, they, too, are magnificent.
Animals don’t touch peonies- other than ants. But don’t worry about ants crawling on the flowers. The ants have a symbiotic relationship with herbaceous peony flowers; they don’t hurt the peonies. If you want to collect a bouquet but don’t want the ants crawling around, submerge the peony flower in a bucket of water and the ants should float off. Then put the flowers in a vase.