One of my favorite flowers

Here in the South, many folks are familiar with herbacious peonies.  (some say "pe O knees", I say "PE e knees"... the "e" in the second pronunciation ought to be upside down, but I don't know how to get symbols in blog typing.)  At any rate, the herbacious ones die back to the ground in the winter.  There is another kind: tree peonies which are not very well known.  They look like any other small deciduous bush in the winter, they are just sticks.  But look at this! 

Isn't it AMAZING!?!

For the most part, the colors in the photo are true; however in real life, the edges are more silver than they are white.  I think this one must be a tetraploid as the petals are as irridescent as fine silk.  The blossom is not quite as large as usual, only @ seven inches, often they are 9-10 inches... really.

I ought to move the bush to a better location, but I am afraid to do so.  I bought it at a farmers' market stall @ 10 years ago for about $13.  (At that time, White Flower Farm sold small bushes for $60.)  It was just a stick with a HUGE bud. I do not know the variety, so I could not replace it. I am afraid it may not survive transplanting.  Also, I don't think I could do a cutting as they are usually grafted to herbacious Paeonia root stock; a cutting probably would not survive here in zone 7.  For now, I just keep my fingers crossed it will continue to live, even tho it isn't getting much bigger.

Don't you think those colors would be a great color palette for a spring quilt?

Happy spring!  b