Tree Peony

I only have one tree peony in my garden - it was a gift from a friend, and initially suffered from being shifted around. In the spring of 2004, settled at last in the Willow Tree Garden, it flowered. What an exciting colour!

A Deciduous Shrub

Tree peonies are deciduous shrubs, and when young they're easy to forget about over a winter. In fact my one is lucky it wasn't dug up or planted over by something else! The colour is rather subtle and very beautiful - the most brownish-red flower I've seen in the garden. Brick-red, with a touch of terracotta, maybe. But very beautiful.

Now each year the tree peony gets bigger and bigger, and is covered in flowers each spring. It grows on one side of a path, opposite the trunk of an oak tree, and is easily seen and admired. I don't trim it back at all - I just shift the path!

I love the look of the foliage almost as much as the colour of the blooms - so much more striking than the common yellow.