The peony love continues in my Wisconsin garden with Peony ‘Gold Standard’ taking center stage today. The frilly central bomb of golden yellow staminodes is a perfect jewel to accent the sweet creamy white guard petals of the Japanese-form blossoms.
Two of these beauties grace my mailbox garden. Their arresting beauty and light fragrance stop passersby in their tracks. Like most peonies, she enjoys basking in full sun, but would be just fine in part shade.
Her annual show begins in late May or early June with each beautiful blossom lasting a week or two.
It’s always a bit sad when her floral show ends, so I usually cut a few of the unopened buds to save in my fridge. I choose buds that have a little marshmallow-like squish to them, then wrap a few of them up in a dampened paper towel, slip them into a Ziplock bag, then store them in a refrigerator drawer.
A few weeks later, I remove a stem or two from the bag, give the stem end a fresh cut, then display it in a bud vase and wait for the petals to open. It’s definitely worth the effort to extend the ‘peony love’ out for a few more weeks.
Barefoot Lily Lady 
Lovely blooms.
Great idea to put buds in the refrigerator.
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Is the flower on that peony about hand-size? And is there a pinky version of the petals with large yellow middles and a glorious fragrance? I passed something of that description as was blown away by its scent and beauty – as was my 8 year old grandson!!!
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Yes, each flower is about the size of my hand and there is a pink version. The pink version with a yellow center is called ‘Doreen’ and she is sweetly fragrant.
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Oh I don’t think that worked
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Bummer. Yes, I haven’t figured out how to reply with a photo in WordPress. Maybe use the link feature and link it to a specific post where the photo appears??
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I don’t have one. I went back yesterday to find the garden with the plant and took a photo so I could identify it better from the leaves as well. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago.
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What a lovely idea!
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