Pink Peony

This magnificent, lustily fragrant peony is named “Dr. Alexander Fleming.” Dr Fleming, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of penicillin, is an unlikely person to be immortalized in our gardens with this buxom flower, isn't he?

This is a plant with a very long blooming period due to prolific side buds---and though it is a prime candidate for cutting and putting on the entry table, I always hesitate because I know that if left, those buds will open into glorious flowers in the garden. It makes me think of Yosa Buson’s haiku (translated by Peter Beilenson from my old Peter Pauper Press edition):

Sadness at twilight….Villain! I have let my hand cut that peony.