I heard a lady once refer to a Peony as the "Cadillac" of flowers. I was around sixteen and thus it meant nothing to me at the time. I was a rose lover through and through ever since I could remember. Nothing compared to roses in my mind as one could bask in the multitude of colors and fragrances that many varieties captured. It was not until I started to grow peonies in my own garden that I slowly began to open my mind to the possibility that this strange woman was onto something. In my youth I never bothered to buy peonies simply because they were (and are) very expensive. In some floral shops one can expect to pay $3-5 dollars a stem (or more), especially for certain varieties like the Sarah Bernhardt.
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When I purchased my home six years ago there was only one Peony plant on the whole property. It was actually a crimson red peony bush that produced the most amazing flowers. But then I planted several other varieties and although it took a few years to get an abundance of peonies, it was well worth the wait. The hardest part of growing peonies is that unlike roses, the harvest season is quite short and one can find that in a matter of weeks all the peonies have had their day.
