Peony 'The national flower of China'

For 2 weeks  From the 23rd January Chinese People all over the world will be celebrating Spring festival which is the beginning of The Chinese new year.
2012 is the year of the Dragon, the most auspicious of the Chinese zodiac signs.
Flower and  plant sales are extremely high during this peak period with prices more than doubling.
Imagine a valentines day lasting 2 weeks!
A favourite are miniature orange trees thought to bring good luck and wealth.Clivia, Cyclamen, Orchids and Azalea are also very popular.

The most popular of all is the Chinese sacred lily (narcissus tazetta v orientalis) the bulbs of this miniature narccisus are peeled and grown in water in traditional bulb bowls and feature in almost every Chinese home during the festival.

The Peony, recently named as China's national flower is out of season but Chinese growers will be forcing plants to provide beautiful blooms in time for Spring festival.
Here in the UK peonies have always been one of our most popular cut flowers and the season as become longer and longer with more varieties coming on to the market.
However, I have to say the range of colours and varieties grown by the Chinese Peony nurseries has to be seen to be believed.
The worlds largest peony garden is located in  He Ze in Shandong province which boasts an annual peony festival each year.

These images from  www.xqpeony.com   who raise  and export peony roots seeds and flowers.
I think some people will be amazed to see peonies in colours other than white pink and dark red. I particularly like the purple, green and apricot varieties quite stunning.
But then The Chinese people have been growing these beautiful flowers for over 2 thousand years!