What fabulous pictures! Thank you for sharing!!! It must have been quite a trip!
Judye

I want that in my yard! My peony just had its first bloom this year. Just one bloom. =0( I didn't realize that there were varieties that got that big. What a sight!!!

Those tree peonies are breathtaking. I have several of them that i grew from seed that came from china where they originated and they are beautiful.thay also are much more vigiorus than any other tree peony i have grown from seed they bloomed in 3 yrs. from seed.delores

Judy,
The closeup of the tree peony is very impressive. The tree peony is a P. rockii. I know they can get quite large. Where in China was the photo taken?

That photo makes the flare look red. Was it? There is a population of red flared rockis that are suppose to come true from seed.

The red flared rocks are referred to as Xue Hai Bing Xin. I have a suspicion that the gene for the red flare is recessive, ie: if self pollenated they will cast offspring that have red flares. If they are cross pollenated with the typical rocki then the offspring will be also typical with the purple flare. This is only my theory with no support other than a Chineses grower telling me that the seeds of red flared rocks yeild red flared offspring. Take my opinion and suspicions with a grain of salt,

Leon

Thanks for your patience. The pictures are slow. There is a good reason to it - their location. I am sure you know it. It is a historical city alone the ancient Silk Road - Dun Huang. Bordering deserts and barren wilderness, the central Asian city is an early frontier of international culture and religious exchange. Almost all European and Asian cultures show up in the well-preserved documents and paintings unearthed at Dunhuang - Chinese, Turkic, Roman, Russian, Hindu, Arabic, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hungarian, Persian, those lost cultures and kingdoms, etc. If you never hear about it, please check this site: the International DunHuang Project. Here is a Dunhuang painting from a public organization. Note the left side depicts a Turkic or Arabic deity, the right side is a Chinese woman of Tang Dynasty. The color is so lively even today.

Oops, let me get back from traveling to TPs. This link is a page of cultivars selected from P. rokii. Some flares are quite reddish.

Love it!