The Beauty of Peonies

I've noticed while perusing through flickr that many people have peonies and have been posting photos of them. Some of my favorite pics are here, here and here. ..and also this one here. Our peony season here in the midwest is going on right now, so I figured it's my turn now to show you my pretties. This bed of Coral Charm peonies is about 27 years old. Yes, peonies plants live a long time. You cut them down at the end of the season and without fail they spring back up the next year.
This is the first sign of the flower buds, all tightly wrapped.
You always see ants hanging around peony plants. They say the ants help to open the flower buds. Just be careful to shake them off when you cut the flowers to bring inside your home, otherwise you'll have a bunch of those guys crawling on your diningroom table...yes, that happened to me but only once!
She's slowing waking up to Mr. Sunshine.
Come on, I see you peeking out from in there.

Ah, there is that sunny yellow center. Did you notice how the color of the flower changed? That is where she gets her name, Coral Charm.
I wanted to show you a picture of the whole bed in bloom, but we had a torrential rainstorm here last night, so things aren't looking too pretty in the peony bed anymore. But you can see how the color of the petals is fading now.

And soon they will begin to drop their petals and turn a creamy white color.

There are lots of places to get your own peonies. My husband used to work for a peony grower when we first got married. That's where my plants of Coral Charm came from. You can get more information about purchasing peony plants here.