Peonies

While I was walking through fields of Peonies, I was thinking about what to write about this week, and if I had something new and exciting to tell you today. The answer has never been this obvious: Peonies, of course! I’ve seen nothing but those over the past few days, so I doubt I could even think of another subject if I had to.Peonies have been on my wish list for years. We’ve not had them in our assortment before, but I’ve wanted to add them for a very long time. They’re simply gorgeous, and we can arrange it fairly easily, too: Peonies are grown in our neighborhood in large quantities. Oftentimes, growers who also carry our Tulips and Daffodils have Peonies in their own assortment as well. Peonies are beautiful inside the house as well as outside. I don’t think I’ve had any years go by without a vase full of them in my home at some point during spring. Their scent is very unique, too: a bit sensual and sweet, a very pleasant addition to an already beautiful flower.

I am happy to see the Peonies take the flower bulb world by storm. Up until about a decade ago, they were nowhere to be found in the assortments of mainstream growers. Their popularity started as the perfect flower to add to bouquets, but growing flowers for that reason alone is unfortunately not very lucrative, so not many growers were able to take them on… you need to feed the family, at the end of the day. It didn’t help either that acquiring them was not cheap for the growers, either. But luckily, when more and more people became aware of the existence of Peonies, interest began to grow, and when people wanted to buy it, it became a lot more attractive to actually offer them.Coral Sunset

It’s the same for you, as a hobby gardener: Peonies are an investment, you’ll need a little bit of patience if you want them in your garden, too. She isn’t like Daffodils, Tulips, Alliums, or Hyacinths, flowers that only need one year to be at their most beautiful. Nine times out of ten, Peonies do show a couple of flowers that first year, and those are gorgeous, but the real deal starts in the second year in your garden. Not to worry, time flies and if you sneeze three times, the year is over. A wise woman once told me that next year will go by just as fast as the year before. So there is nothing to worry about for you and your Peonies: before you know it, they’ll have made themselves at home, and then they will be able to truly show you what they can do.Alertie

I’ve learned quite a bit about Peonies over the past couple of years, but if you want true inside information, especially when it comes to the assortment and which kinds of Peonies exist in the world, you’ll have to visit ‘Peony Showgarden Holland’, located in Lemelerveld. I’ve visited them every week for the past month, so I could see the Peonies in bloom at different times in order to put together the perfect assortment for our website. There are thousands of varieties, so some harsh decisions have to be made: We can’t take them all, no matter how much we might want to. And all those varieties are really trying so very hard to steal your heart, it almost hurts to not pick some of them.Another great thing about the world of Peonies is that amongst Peony Enthusiasts, capitalised, a true Peony Craze takes over daily life. When there are special, new varieties, eye catchers and other interesting characteristics, collectors tend to pay hundreds of Euros to get their hands on them. I wish the Daffodil had the same kind of fan club behind her: they often go for way less, and they deserve so much more! But you know how I feel about my personal favourite, so I will try to keep it Peony-related today. 

I’ve been advised by some Peony growers to offer a few of the more special varieties. Not to worry, they’ll not be hundreds of Euros, we’ll try to keep it fun. But I do wonder if they’ll sell: it’s already a new flower, I just told you you’ll have to wait for them to really shine, and, well. Peonies are just very Out There. But I’m very excited and curious to see what will happen.Vanilla Schnapps 

Within a week or so, I hope to be able to inform you that the Peonies are online. Most photographs have been taken, but as you know, I want to take all of them myself, as well as write a bit of information for every new variety. It may take some time, but I’ll let you know as soon as they’re live!Last, but absolutely not least, I want to tell you about another friend of mine that I’ve visited this week. An Allium friend this time: Wietse Mellema. He lives in the Noordoostpolder. Wietse is a fellow sufferer, a true companion when it comes to lovesickness: what I have with Daffodils, he has with Alliums. Whenever I  visit him I don’t get home until very late at night, that’s how much he can tell me about the love of his life. He also told me to put in the newsletter that there is a very good Allium for the garden: Allium Chicago, hybridised by crossing Allium komarowii x Allium atropurpureum.Allium Chicago takes on the best of both parent’s characteristics: a beautiful, purple colour, and an absolutely amazing shape. I’ve added her to our web shop right away. That’s it for this week!

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek