If you ask someone what is their favourite flower, most people say the peony.
Everybody loves peonies! Peonies to me mean the beginning of summer and my birthday. Here in the UK they are in season from May and June. In reality, the peony cutting season is literally a matter of a few weeks from mid May until early/mid June.
In the supermarkets, you tend only to see pale pink peonies with some coral charms and the occasional white peony. However, visit a specialist peony grower or wholesaler and you are swept away by the most beautiful and large headed blooms.
Peonies are differentiated by 3 main characteristics (other than colour): bud size, form and when they bloom.
Form is usually either a Double/Full peony or a Bomb. A Double or Full peony, typically refers to the same thing and is an explosion of overlapping petals that completely obscure the flowers centre and stamens. A Bomb features a wide ring of outer petals (guards) cup a dense, raised, pompom like centre of smaller narrower petals.
When they bloom also varies and are typically classified as Early, Mid or Late.
For example, Alertie is an early bloomer, double peony, soft pink with creamy hints. It is a quick opener and its flowers change in a couple of days from pink to pale pink to white pink.
As the peony season is so short (maximum 6 weeks), different varieties are only available for a matter of a couple of weeks. An understanding of the sequence of bloom times is needed to ensure a particular variety, colour or size peony will be available for a specific date. This is important for weddings when peonies are such a popular choice.
Some of our favourite peonies
Coral Charm
A florists bucket full of amazing coral charm peonies stole the show when I was at Manchester Flower Festival last month. They were the star attraction in King Street, with people stopping and taking photos and videos of them all day long. They start a deep salmon pink and change colour to coral before fading to a soft pearch, cream and yellow. They are an early variety and one of the first to become available every year.
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt is by far the best known and loved peony. It is so popular it has become the face of peonies. It is a full petalled peony with large pink flowers that bloom late in the season. It is named after a famous French actress.
Angel Cheeks
Angel cheeks transform from a medium sized flower bud into a huge pink ball with a golden centre and has a wonderfully fresh scent. Angle cheeks opens up explosively and can quadruple in size.
Duchess de Nemours
Duchess de Nemours is another popular peony. A full petalled white peony with globe shaped flowers that emit a wonderful fragrance. It blooms to around 13-15cm!
Finally we love 2 yellow peonies – Lemon Chiffon and Bartzella.
Lemon Chiffon
Lemon Chiffon is quite a rare peony with layers of soft yellow petals with a delicate fragrance.
Bartzella
Bartzella is a gorgeous yellow peony with large, gentle lemon scented frilly soft yellow flowers with a flare of magenta around delicate yellow stamens.
Where to buy British peonies online:
The Peony Farmer grows and sells a range of different varieties including Angel Cheeks and Duchess de Nemours.
English Peonies grow peonies in Norfolk and sell Sarah Bernhardt online.
Lov Flowers sells pink and white peonies. Evolve sells British grown peonies grown in Lincolnshire from 10 stems to 100 stems.
How to care for peonies as cut flowers
Remember the Marshmellow Test! When buying cut peonies (or cutting them), feel the buds. Is there some give? If not, move on. If the bud is still very hard on a cut peony, it will not open. It has been cut too early and will not bloom.
If arranging them with other flowers in a bouquet, be aware if it is a variety which opens into a large bloom so you can allow enough space in the arrangement for it. Also be aware if it is a variety that opens up explosively ie very quickly such as Angel Cheeks.
As always condition well – remove foliage especially below the water level. Cut at a diagonal and change the water regaularly.
If you want to see more about flowers you can look here.
