WRAPPED IN SOFTNESS

Last week I once again had the opportunity to visit the botanical garden in Cologne. I had already been to this garden last year, but at a different time. It was later in the summer back then. I started wondering what visits to a botanical garden look like at different times of the year. I think the biggest advantage of such return visits is the fact that in every season we can see different flowers in the garden. Some of them bloom at the beginning of spring, while others a bit later. Another thing is that not all plants we can admire in such gardens are perennial. So even when visiting the garden every year, we can observe different flowers, as the arrangement of annual plants changes. And that was exactly the case during my visit in Cologne, where I had the chance to admire completely different plants than those I saw last summer. One of these flowers is the PEONY and it is the main subject of today’s post.

PEONIES are plants belonging to the genus Paeonia. Their natural habitat includes Europe, Asia and North America. Currently around thirty species of this flower are known. They usually bloom from May to June, although some bloom a bit earlier, like the ones I had the opportunity to admire.

What you can’t see in the photos is that the flowers are large, full and often have a very pleasant, intense fragrance, although not all varieties are scented. There is a wide range of colors, including white, pink, red and purple.

Like many other flowers peonies attract bees and other pollinating insects. An interesting fact is that these plants are very long-lived. They can grow in one place for several decades, but it’s important to remember that they don’t like being moved. After transplanting they may not bloom for several seasons.

Peonies have always carried symbolic meaning. They are associated with love, romance, happiness and prosperity and especially in Chinese culture they symbolize wealth and good fortune. They are often called the “queen of flowers” there, which honestly doesn’t surprise me at all, because these flowers are truly beautiful and quite impressive in size. They really present themselves exceptionally well.

This is my entry for PhotoFeed Contest - Macro Photography Round 167

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