peony

i’ve noticed that peony is probably the most popular flower among girl/lady bloggers at this time of year. matter of fact, like vale says, i, too, prefer delicate and subtle beauty of flowers to dominant and obvious beauty of flowers like peony. still, i do love every flower. when i visited my mother on tuesday, several peony buds in her living room caught my eye naturally. i remember that my parents used to grow peonies in our garden. one of her friends grows peonies and brought a couple of stems to her.

“wow! 牡丹botan (peony)” i said. “no, it’s not 牡丹, it’s 芍薬 shakuyaku (peony lactiflora)” my mother denied and added, “牡丹is tree but芍薬 is not.” oh, is that so? indeed, i know at least the difference that bloom of 牡丹is bigger and more powerful in a way than 芍薬, which is taller than 牡丹 although the characteristics of both flowers look the same. in japan, we have a saying for a beautiful lady that “she’s a 牡丹when she stands up, she’s a 牡丹 when she sits down.” anyway, i always associate both flowers, especially this shocking pink, with china, though, because it’s a floral symbol of china.

as for colours, if i had a choice, either tree peonies or plant peonies, i prefer pastel shades to shocking pink. but when i my mother offered me one bud, i of course took it home. and it fully opened up yesterday. no doubt. it’s gorgeous. i hope you all are enjoying the season of 百花繚乱 hyakkaryoran (a hundred of floweres profusely blooming)!