The Tree Paeony

This is what the RHS website has to say about the tree paeony.

"The papery flamboyant blooms and interesting foliage of tree paeonies give the impression that the plants are delicate. Thankfully, the complete opposite is true. Tree paeonies are hardy, long-lived shrubs provided they are grown in a suitable spot.”

A pot on top of my backyard wall is not a suitable spot. It’s usually in shade, there is no shelter from the storm, and the wind breaks any slender stem that isn’t sufficiently supported. It took years for it to produce any flower buds, and even then they weren’t much to look at.

 

And the few that appeared never showed any signs of opening - until this year, that is! Wonder of wonders! This is what the first-ever flower looks like!

 

Worth waiting for, I think you’ll agree. The fragrance, too, is something special. I can’t quite describe it, or put a name to it. It is, perhaps, like the aroma of an old wooden drawer in a bureau, one that has held perfume or scented linen, but is now empty, with only a faint, lingering trace of what was once within.

Sad to say, since I took this photo, it has already begun to fade, and it will soon be gone.

1 Peter 1.24 tells us: “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Peter encourages us: “love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God”. (1 Peter 1.22-23)