牡丹節, Peony Festival in Luoyang, China.

Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072), Chinese statesman and author, was fascinated by the legendary tree peonies or Moutan that grew in Luoyang, a city in the Henan Province in China where he has been posted. In his treatise entitled Luoyang mudan ji 洛陽牡丹記 (Record of the Tree Peonies of Luoyang), he recalls: 'I first arrived in the city in the 3rd month of the 9th year of T'ien-sheng (1031), which was too late to see the peonies in full bloom.'

I also missed their blossoming peak visiting Luoyang in the last days of April, as formidable heat and sudden storms had inexorably accelerated their fading. However, there were still many beautiful peonies to see in this ancient capital where the origin of their cultivation is lost in legends. In the most popular, Empress Wu Zetian (624-705 AD), who reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), ordered the flowers in her garden, in today's Xi-an, to bloom the following day. It was a cold and snowy winter morning, but, frightened by the tyrannical and whimsical Empress, all the flowers obeyed except the brave tree peony. The angry Empress exiled the flower to nearby Luoyang where, despite harsh winds and fierce sun, the tree peony flourished. Ouyang acknowledges it as 'the best in the empire' but firmly disagrees with the idea that its extraordinary beauty is due to the unique position of Luoyang, considered at those times 'the central point between heaven and earth...'

He focuses on flowers and on practical advices for their cultivation, from grafting to watering. He lists twenty-four varieties, including the famous and rare 'Yao Yellow' and 'Wei Flower' with multiple petals and yellow and red flowers, called the 'King and Queen of Flowers'.   Their names comes from the families where they were first cultivated and admired: 'Mr. Wei's ponds and buildings were vast and it is related that when the flowers came to bloom, those who wished to see them were charged a dozen cash or so, embarked upon a boat and taken across the lake to the flowers' location.' 

Ouyang remarks, 'The commonfolk of Loyang for the most part have a great fondness for flowers,' to such an extend that '...when powerful nobles seek cuttings, they are sometimes given those that have been killed by immersion in hot water.' New exciting varieties, with more petals, new shapes, colour combinations, blotches, dots and poetical names are still created and the Peony Festival, held in Luoyang each year in April since 1983, is the perfect time to admire them. Habits do not seem much changed from the past: 'In the springtime, the people in the city, no matter whether noble or baseborn, all wear flowers. Even the officials do so. When the flowers bloom gentry and commoners vie in taking pleasure trips and strolls to ancient temples and derelict households and turning such places as have lakes and pavilions into marketstances. They open up tents and awnings, and everywhere is heard the sound of music and singing.' 
I simply followed the crowd and enjoyed their beauty.

Photos:

TravelinaGarden, Luoyang April 2017

Further reading:
Ouyang Xiu, Record of the Tree Peony of Loyang, translated by John Marney for the American Peony Society Bulletin, No. 229 (1979).
http://www.paeo.de/h1/wang/ouy.html

Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, Peonies The Imperial Flower, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999.