Tree Peony Festival

Practically Luminous Tree Peony – Photo: L. Weikel

As you know from my posts over the past several days, last weekend we visited Linwood Gardens, in western New York, for their Tree Peony Festival. We were especially keen to visit because we knew first-hand how beautiful the estate was back when Sarah and Sage were married there. As beautiful as it was that month, everyone who was familiar with ‘the Farm’ told us again and again that the place becomes even more exquisite when the tree peonies bloom.

The caretakers of the premises do their best to have the Gardens open to the public when the peonies are peaking. It sounds like this year was particularly challenging with the fluctuations in temperature. They kept having to shift around the weekends they were open because it would appear as though the peonies were on track to ‘pop’ a certain couple of weekends only to have a cold snap hit, significantly slowing down their final approach to launch.

Given the state of the gardens last weekend, I can only imagine how spectacular a treat visitors will be in for this weekend. While there were more than enough plants, including peonies, blooming last Saturday – there remained at least quadruple that number waiting in the wings for just enough more warm days to fully fledge into a bloom extravaganza.

The colors of these tree peonies were ethereal – Photo: L. Weikel

Ants and Peonies

I’ve always loved these flowers (and been fascinated by the big ants that swarm the buds on our version – which are not ‘tree’ peonies). There was some debate over whether ants hang out with tree peonies as much as the shrub version, but it turns out ants are equal-opportunity nectar lovers. Supposedly. But it sure seemed like they found the shrub version tastier.

I learned last weekend that my belief/assumption that the ants were somehow essential to the pollination of peonies was erroneous. Actually, the love affair between ants and peonies are an example of biological mutualism. And while the ants may not be essential to the pollination process per se, they can be considered the peonies’ protectors. They’ll take out other bugs that come sniffing around their peonies (bugs that would harm the flowers) and ask questions later – if ever. Wink wink. Survival of the fittest.

Given that Ant is often associated with the strategy of patience, maybe those who love peonies are cultivating their ability to exercise this virtue when they need it most. Certainly those who exercised patience this year and scheduled their visit to the Gardens later than they might have otherwise were (and will be) amply rewarded.

If you doubt that, just look at these photos and remember, it still felt just a few days ‘early’ when we were there.

Some of these blooms were simply breathtaking.