Like spring's first asparagus spears or Bluff oysters in April, paeonies will be inducing outbreaks of fiscal insanity in florist shops this month. With filo-pastry petals of coral, carmine, candy pink and cream, coupled with a flowering season as brief as a bikini, these voluptuous blooms fetch up to 10 per dollar bud at a time when even long-stemmed roses are cheaper by the dozen. The first paeonies - or paeony roses, as Americans prefer to call them - are plucked from southern fields in late October. Eight weeks later, the season is all over. The salmon-pink varieties (known as Corals) flower first, then the burgundy blooms of 'Red Charm' and 'Maestro', followed by the fist-size cream-flowered varieties prized by spring brides.
展开▼
