Interesting Facts About Peonies - Edible, Medicinal, Beautiful and Smart!
Peonies are really smart plants.
They secrete a sticky substance to attract ants. This is their built in defense against damaging pests. The ants attack the pests and lick up all the sticky sweet secretions - everyone wins!
Peonies can also live up to 100 years - which is quite a nice long life for a plant.
The petals are also edible. Of course, you want to be using organic from the garden petals and not those from the flower stores. Sprinkle them in salads and they look gorgeous! I like to dry petals to use for decorating & making beautiful things later on. Here are some interesting details on the nutritional aspects of peonies.
There are websites dedicated to caring for peonies but I can't help anyone with that, the beautiful vibrant and healthy peonies that we have in the garden, have themselves to thank for their perfection. I do nothing at all to care for them and don't even know what variety they are.
In Chinese medicine White Peony Root (Bai Shao) is a widely used herb regarded by herbalists and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners. It exhibits a broad spectrum of therapeutic applications, since ancient times scholars have described it as a substance that can enter and affect almost all organ networks. source I don't know if other varieties of peony roots can be used similarily - something I'll have to study when I have some time.
The season for peonies always seems shockingly short, it seems to be over only a few weeks after they bloom.In my experience it is guaranteed that a rain storm will come along and batter them as soon as they open and so I grabbed my camera to capture them all wet and dewy just after a rain shower.
I think they are worth a closer look. Don't you?
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Beautiful color! I seldom get flowers on mine, but I did get 4 on one of them this year. :))
Do they not like the climate or location? Maybe you can move them? They are pretty, so vibrant and bold. I might divide this in the spring and plant them in a second location. Almost hate to touch it though.
I just recently discovered it's the location. They must have full sun, irregardless of what the plant catalogs say. Once the building is done, I can move them to a full sun place.
Got to love an edible flower. I wonder if it might also be useful to distract the ants from farming aphids and give their predators a better chance.
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Interesting thought. I don't really know much about ants or aphids and I will have to sit and read up on that. We have a lot of ant hills around here and i'd never given it much thought until last year when we had quite a few in the house. For the firs time I started wondering about what damage they might do on the land. Lots to learn.
wow peonies are so pretty and I am just imagining them on a salad plate - such a pretty sight
I like to roll the petals up and then slice them into long ribbons - very pretty on salads and perhaps candied as well for cakes.
now that's some exclusive information for me - petals rolling and slicing in ribbons :)
Ive never grown them and in fact didnt know what they looked like really until your GORGEOUS photos!! Hmmm... maybe i need a dedicated flower garden....
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I inherited these peonies from the original owner. They seem so opulent and out of place in my wild garden but also very pretty mixed in with everything else. I think I am going to try to tame some of it which means trying to get the lupins dug out of my flower bed - such an epic mistake sprinkling those seeds before researching.
It's looks like professional photography. Wonderful!