A new week, a new flower to learn the secret language of - last week was Roses (which I hoped you loved learning about as much as me) and this week, it’s the Instagram favourite - the PEONY!

The Peony is nowadays definitely one of the most requested flowers during the spring and summer months, and for a good reason. These fluffy fragrant flowers have a famously short season, often from May-July (if you’re lucky you might catch them in April), and come in white, pinks, reds and sometimes a yellow hue.
Fun fact! Early in the season, you’re more likely to find the brighter shades, and later in the season, the paler shades come out in force. You’ll no doubt recognise the transformative qualities of them, from tight tiny bright buds to big blowsy bleached-out blooms (see mine from last week below), and in recent years they’ve become the flower of choice for influencers and couples all over the internet.

In Greek Mythology, Paeon was known as the Physician of the Gods, and a student of Aesculapius, the God of Medicine. As the story goes, when Paeon used a Peony root to heal Pluto, Aesculapius became so jealous, he tried to kill Paeon. To save him, Pluto turned Paeon into a Peony to conceal his identity from the jealous Aesculapius, and so, to some, the Peony represents compassion.
Other myths around the Peony include nymphs. A nymph, named Paeonia, was so beautiful she attracted the gaze of Apollo, who was the lover of Aphrodite. As Apollo flirted with Paeonia, she grew aware that Aphrodite was watching them, and so turned red with embarrassment. In anger, Aphrodite responds by turning Paeonia into a red peony, and so this is apparently how Peonies grew to represent bashfulness and shame, and this is the meaning of Peonies when you look at the Victorian description (in the Artistic Language of Flowers). This meaning could have also come from the tale that mischievous nymphs used peonies to conceal themselves.

Even with the plant itself, there are many superstitions surrounding the Peony. If your bush is full of blooming flowers, it means good luck is on the horizon. However, if the leaves turn dry and the flowers fade, you better prepare yourself for disaster. And even if your bush IS blooming, if you are unlucky enough to have an odd number of flowers, you actually are in for some bad luck. So there’s not much winning with Peony plants I guess?

In Eastern culture, the Peony is especially valued. It was the National flower of China until 1929 when it changed to the Plum Tree, and is still known as the ‘King of Flowers’, due to it being native there. During the Sui dynasty, it’s said peonies wereplanted within the Imperial Palace, and so became known as the flower to represent nobility, honour and wealth - especially when coloured red. This colour represents prosperity within in Chinese culture, and so when combined with the Peony family - which the Chinese name literally translates to ‘Most Beautiful’ - it’s one of the most sacred and sought after flowers in the country. In Europe, the Peony root was mostly used in medicines, known to heal everything from headaches to asthma, to soothing the pains of childbirth! Victorian children even used to wear Peony emblems around their necks to ward off illnesses such as toothache.

In contrast to the Rose, different colours of Peonies don’t necessarily hold different meanings in traditional Floriography. However, nowadays Peonies on the whole have come to represent romance and a happy marriage - most likely due to the fact they are a favourite of Brides and Grooms around the world.
White and pale pink colours have come to be the primary representatives of bashfulness, and the stronger the colour, the more their meaning changes towards honour, respect and wealth.
It’s also worth mentioning that they are the flower for 12th Wedding Anniversaries, so if you’re looking for the perfect bouquet to represent your many years of marriage, make sure it includes these stunning blooms!

And with that, Peonies are done and dusted!
Next week, I might write about what you might want to convey with your flowers, and helping you choose… So, what do you want to say with your next bouquet?

Introduction to Floriography - A Peony For Your Thoughts