![]() ![]() Other heirloom varieties are Luoyang Red, Black Dragon Holds a Splendid Flower, Twin Beauty, Phoenix White, Gold Sand in a Black Ocean and Capital Red. We do sell a number of classical varieties of Chinese tree peonies including Number One Scholars Red. The 12th century chronicler of peonies Lu Yu speculated that this already old variety had acquired it’s named either because “it transcends all other flowers” or because “under the old system, the top candidate in the imperial examination was awarded a madder-plant colored robe and so this flower was named because of that color.” For members of the gentry class of ancient China, attainment of this most exalted rank was the ultimate demonstration of mental acuity and moral rectitude. ‘ Number One Scholar’s Red‘ is named for the zhuang yuan, or highest honor in the Chinese Imperial civil service examination. Number One Scholar’s Red 狀元紅 zhuang yuan hong ![]() Collectors seeking a true yellow tree peony for their garden will have more success in one of the American hybrids like Age of Gold. It is also slow and rather meager in its flowers. In actuality it is a pale yellow which quickly fades to white. We and our customers have found better success in growing more recently developed, better performing cultivars.įor instance, ‘Yao’s Yellow’ is in reality nowhere near the color depicted in this painting. Beautiful as these two very famous varieties are, we have decided not to sell or propagate them because they have proven to be a bit fickle and slow growing. It is truly astonishing to think that the flowers we are mesmerized by each spring are the exact clones of those which Ouyang xiu wrote about 1000 years ago. We have specimens of Wei’s Purple and Yao’s Yellow in our collection at Cricket Hill Garden. Now if Yao’s Yellow can indeed be considered the king, then Wei’s Purple is the queen.” In Record of the Tree Peonies of Luoyang, Ouyang Xiu relates that: “People call the tree peony the ‘king of flowers’. Some of the varieties, like ‘Yao’s Yellow’ and ‘Wei’s Purple’ depicted in this series of paintings are mentioned in the Record of the Tree Peonies of Luoyang by the Song dynasty literati Ouyang xiu (1007-1072 CE). These paintings are almost 250 years old, some of the varieties shown have been grown for over 1000 years, and yet they still inspire us and so many others. These images help to demonstrate the extraordinarily long time that tree peonies have captivated emperors, painters and gardeners. As part of the prized imperial collection of the Qing dynasty, these paintings now reside in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. The two large red stamps which appear on the upper portions of the paintings are the imperial seals of the Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing. Earlier classical Chinese paintings of tree peonies are less detailed, but more fluid in their representation. This mixing of traditions lends the flower greater dimension, but also gives it a somewhat stilted quality. The style is a unique blend of traditional Chinese and western style botanical illustration. Items that are on back-order in May or June will be delivered the following year in April to June (unless otherwise stated and subject to growing season weather and conditions).The following watercolor paintings are part of series by Zou Yigui 鄒一桂 (1686–1772), a famed court painter of the Qing Dynasty. Either place two separate orders on our website or contact us via email and we will assist you. If your order contains both in-stock and back-order products we will dispatch your order when all of the products are ready if you would like to have the in-stock products delivered prior to the back-order products an additional delivery charge (£7.95) will apply and your order will be split and dispatched accordingly. Items are dispatched on a 24hr service, you will receive a shipping notification 24hrs prior to order arrival. Products available on back-order are usually dispatched between April and June (unless otherwise stated and subject to growing season weather, our plants are grown sustainably and so rely on natural weather patterns and seasons to grow). Products marked as available on Back-Order are products that are in production and not ready for release yet.
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