King of the Garden. Paeonia suffruticosa, Shrubby Peony, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Henry Charles Andrews (c.1770-1830) was so taken by this pretty hybrid Tree Peony that he described and drew it twice for his The Botanist's Repository: in volume VI (1806) and VII (1807). He says it was introduced to England from China in 1794. In Japan 'Suffruticosa' is called the 'King of Flowers'.
Peonies had already been known in Europe for perhaps two centuries before. Lobelius (1538-1616), for example, discusses them. And there's a story that an English ambassador acquired the plant from the Dutch East Indies Trading Company in the early seventeenth century. But Peonies didn't become really popular until the beginning of the nineteenth century, a popularity that radiated from Britain. Indeed, I remember in my own youth a hundred and fifty years later my mother still associating Peonies with English Gardens.
King of the Garden. Paeonia suffruticosa, Shrubby Peony, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Henry Charles Andrews (c.1770-1830) was so taken by this pretty hybrid Tree Peony that he described and drew it twice for his The Botanist's Repository: in volume VI (1806) and VII (1807). He says it was introduced to England from China in 1794. In Japan 'Suffruticosa' is called the 'King of Flowers'.
Peonies had already been known in Europe for perhaps two centuries before. Lobelius (1538-1616), for example, discusses them. And there's a story that an English ambassador acquired the plant from the Dutch East Indies Trading Company in the early seventeenth century. But Peonies didn't become really popular until the beginning of the nineteenth century, a popularity that radiated from Britain. Indeed, I remember in my own youth a hundred and fifty years later my mother still associating Peonies with English Gardens.