Peonies and Weddings

Peonies and Weddings is a brief foray into beautiful romantic wedding bouquets. There are many reasons why they make such a wonderful early summer flower for your garden as well as for weddings, and we look at which garden peonies are used in floral bouquets. You can discover some fun and interesting facts about the peony. Plus the basic equipment you need to begin the process of drying and pressing peonies and other bridal flowers.

This blog is inspired by the wedding of my eldest son, Nathan, whom some of you will know as Plews Nathan. He and Rebecca were married earlier in June at Norwich Castle. Walking back through the town to the hotel and reception as a Bridal party was fun for us and brought smiles and good wishes from all the those we passed.

Are the Peonies used in Wedding Bouquets the same as we grow in our Gardens?

Yes … and no.

And that answer is because there are two (or arguably three) main kinds of peony that we tend to cultivate in our domestic gardens. The former is the one grown commercially in vast numbers for the floral industry. If you were growing your own flowers for a wedding, then there is nothing stopping you from using whichever you prefer. Indeed, some more specialist florists may offer you the choice.

The first are herbaceous peonies, which are the ones that we most frequently grow in our flower borders. These may be Paeonia officinalis with crimson blooms, which is often referred to as the garden peony or common peony. Or it may be Paeonia lactiflora, with crimson stems and blooms that are often scented. There are other types of Peony or Paeony (either spelling is acceptable) but these are the most usual ones sold in garden centres.

The other sort of peony we grow, although not as often as we perhaps should, are tree peonies, Paeonia suffruticosa. These are not trees but deciduous shrubs, although some can grow to 11 foot tall, most will easily fit into an ‘average sized’ garden. Like herbaceous peonies, they bear huge flamboyant flowers, sometimes the size of dinner plates. As shrubs they keep their woody stems all year although the leaves die off in autumn. Tree peonies benefit from having some of their oldest woody stems pruned out annually to encourage fresh new growth.

There is a third type of peony, which you’ll find labelled ‘Itoh’ after the Japanese breeder, Toichi Itoh, who hybridized an herbaceous peony with a tree peony in the late 1940s. for those of you who like to know these things, this is an intersectional hybrid, meaning it is a cross between tree and herbaceous types of peony.

Peonies and Weddings – the Meaning of Flowers

Not everyone sets an importance on the meanings of the flowers for their wedding. For some its just about the colour, the scent and whether they like the flowers. But as part of a bridal bouquet for early summer, peonies and weddings go together “like a horse and carriage”.

Peony
The peony symbolises love, honour, happiness, wealth, romance, and beauty. Which kind of says it all, really! Peonies are also the traditional flower for 12th wedding anniversaries.

However, Peonies weren’t the only bridal flower, although, quite rightly, they took centre stage. There was also another scented favourite, white Dianthus, or Carnation, and white Lisianthus, a popular flower for bouquets.

Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus, often called the florists’ Carnation, is the most usual type used for weddings. This is the hardy Carnation, easily grown in British gardens and with a longer stem than the cottage garden pinks type of Dianthus.
White carnations represent pure love and good luck.

Lisianthus
Lisianthus is a tender perennial flower that is best grown as an annual flower in the UK. In the language of flowers, it has meanings of gratitude, appreciation and charisma.

Fun Facts about Peonies

Peonies are native to Asia, Europe, and Western North America.
The Chinese name for the peony is sho yu and this means “most beautiful”.
Members of the Tang Dynasty of China began breeding peonies in the imperial courts in the 7th century BCE.
Originally grown for their medicinal qualities (and they‘re still used in traditional Chinese medicine) peonies came to be valued for their beauty.
One of the earliest peonies introduced into England was Paeonia officinalis. This is the crimson peony that is even now commonly found in gardens, and its been here since about 1548.
Many fragrant garden forms of Paeonia lactiflora were introduced to Europe from China in the early 1800s.
During the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, new cultivars were developed in France and England by growers such as Victor Lemoine and James Kelway.
There are now more than 6,500 varieties of peonies, with new ones being introduced all the time.
Peony species with single flowers will attract bees and other pollinating insects so they’re a beneficial addition in a wildlife-friendly garden.
Peony plants can live to be 100 years and still produce flowers.

Drying and Pressing Flowers

This will be the topic of a future blog once we’ve finished drying and pressing the flowers. As peonies are very full and large blooms, they’re not easy to preserve. By comparison, Lisianthus are easy! Both the Mothers were given the bridesmaids’ bouquets as a keepsake (thank you) and it is mine that we are drying and preserving, as well as the Father of the Groom’s buttonhole.

This short video just shows you how to transport the flowers from wedding to home and the tools you will need for drying. We also hung some of them to dry in the potting shed. I put this process into the capable hands of @panwithpots and @th3sinister0wl both excellent craftspeople and good friends. Just in case you were thinking I could do all that at the same time as moving house and garden!

And finally

A partner in Plews Garden Design since 2012, Nathan later owned and ran a separate business, Plews Garden Landscaping. Deciding on a complete change of direction, this recently saw him retrain as an electrician, and start up Creekside Electrical Services @creekside.electrical.services

There are more wedding inspired ideas in the blog links below to get you thinking about plants and features for your own garden. And if you would like help with a temporary or permanent planting design to dress your garden for a wedding why not get in touch?

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.