Peony Flower Festiva Maxima  ( Paeonia lactiflora)

Festiva Maxima is a sweet scented  double blooming  peony that has been grown in home gardens for over 150 years. It is a favorite of peony experts and gardening novices alike as it produces  beautiful fragrant showy blossoms, faithfully each June with very little effort on the part of the gardener . The brilliant  white petals  flecked with streaks of  crimson are stunning in the garden bed or border and equally handsome in cut arrangements in a bowl or vase.
When ever I see these  peony flowers they immediately bring to mind a vanilla  ice cream cone with raspberry sauce drizzled across its icy top just as it used to come from the ice cream mans van in my childhood days its definitely one of my all time favorite flowers (and it isn’t even blue).

One advantage to living in an area with cold winter temperatures and there aren’t many but one is that you can grow peony flowers with ease ,because peony flowers  require cold winters to set their buds. Because of this many southern US gardeners are a little leery  of planting peonies; however, there are supposedly and I say supposedly as I live in Canada where we are always assured cold enough winters for the setting of the buds for the peony flowers . Varieties that will bloom and and do well in Zone 8 gardens are Festiva Maxima as seen above and peony Sarah Bernhardt. Peonies are naturally better adapted to a more northern climate but  both of these varieties it is claimed flourish and have been grown in some southern  gardens for many years and are relatively trouble-free , if planted properly in the right location, these beautiful peony flowers  can last for centuries.

Peonies are best  planted in the early fall, as this gives the peony plant a chance to set its root system necessary for it to produce peony flowers the following year. Place the peony tubers just beneath the   soils surface so that the peony eyes are no deeper than 2 inches below the surface. Peonies that are planted too deeply may fail to flower. Give peonies space to grow, as some peony plants can spread as much as 3 feet. Peonies are a long-lived perennial plant, and it is not unusual for peonies to live over 50 years.

Peonies are one of the  toughest most resilient , longest-lived perennial plants available to the North American gardener. They require only  minimal attention they  live virtually forever. They do like full sun and reasonably well drained soil but will tolerate partial shade , to maintain good sized peony flowers  the peony plants should be divided every 4-6 years these plants are often referred to as No the “Queens of the Spring Garden! and no wonder. If you would like to know more about other varieties of peonies and the care  peony flowers in general please see the related posts section for other articles.