The bees are in a frenzy. We were looking at one that had a huge ball of pollen on its legs, so heavy he had to drop it to fly away. Perhaps this is where the myth of bashful nymphs inhabiting peonies began, by watching bees in the petals.
Such fragrance! Rain heavy in the sky today so the petals may drop even sooner. All the more reason to enjoy the moments while they last. I decided to pop into one of the photo for scale, to prove the blooms are as big as my head.
Common peony meanings include good fortune, a happy marriage, riches, and romance.
The Peony’s thick ruffled blooms and ability to return spring after spring for 100 years or longer gives it magical qualities to the gardener and floral enthusiast alike.
The Peony takes its name from the mythological Greek character Paeon, who studied with the god of medicine known as Asclepius. Zeus had to transform the student into a beautiful flower when he showed more promise than his teacher and incurred his wrath.
The Peony is most important in Chinese culture. This stunning flower is an official emblem of China, and it plays a big role in many holidays and religious traditions. It’s the flower with the longest continual use in Eastern culture, and it’s tied in deeply with royalty and honor in those societies. The Chinese name for Peony even translates to “most beautiful”.
Oddly enough, it has somewhat of an opposite meaning to Western individuals. Greek myth says that nymphs used to hide their naked forms in Peonies to shield them from prying eyes. This led to the association of Peonies with shamefulness and bashfulness during the Victorian era. It was considered downright unlucky to dig up a shrub of Peony during the Middle Ages due to associations with less than kind fairies.
postscript
A severe thunderstorm with hail and torrential rain visited that very evening, leaving the peonies wilted and spent by morning. It was grand while it lasted!
