This June, we asked Matthaei-Nichols friends and followers to join us for #joyofpeonies, our community appreciation for all things peony-related.
This virtual peony potluck party invited guests to contribute peony photos or stories to share, neighbor to neighbor. Then we posted the stories and photos on our social media and enews.
We received nearly 100 submissions. And we promised to post the gallery of photos later in the summer. Here it is! We’ve also included some selected stories that capture the peony mood perfectly. If you submitted a photo to us and don’t see it here, please email the photo to: mbgna-peonygarden@umich.edu and we’ll add it to the gallery.
Enjoy! And thanks again to everyone who participated.
Scroll down for peony stories
Peonies indeed bring great joy. This is a photo of one of the peonies in our yard. We planted these peonies over forty years ago and they have faithfully bloomed for us every year since then. We anxiously await the end of May and the beginning of June to see these wonderful blossoms appear. —-Helen Campbell
Peonies indeed bring great joy. This is a photo of one of the peonies in our yard. We planted these peonies over forty years ago and they have faithfully bloomed for us every year since then. We anxiously await the end of May and the beginning of June to see these wonderful blossoms appear. —-Helen Campbell
Jennifer Grivins: “My peonies are over 40 years old and are transplanted from the house I grew up in.”
Julie Anderson Rakestra: “My great aunt Ethel planted these peonies over 100 years ago. I’ve taken them to two houses.”
Nicole Frisbee: “Visiting the peony garden wtih my daughter each summer has been a special tradition for us.”
Tracey Bowman Walerius: “These we e my great grandmother’s peonies and then my late mother’s so happy to still have them blooming.”
From Rhonda Lore Cloutier: I purchased at the peony sale a few years ago. I wish I could remember the name of the peony!”
Peony stories from our community:
From Matthaei-Nichols retired director Bob Grese: “During World War II, the American art pottery company Roseville Pottery (1892-1954) produced a series of household pieces featuring peony flowers. Pieces in the “Peony” line included teapots, sugar and creamers, compotes, bookends, ashtrays, various bowls, cornucopias, and vases such as the one featured here. This vase was one of two given to my parents as a wedding present. As happened with so many of things in my family of 11 kids–one of the two broke somewhere along the way. I remember thinking it was special each time I had to dust the shelves where it sat. It came to live with me after my Mom died and my Dad moved into a smaller place. I continue to value it as a link to my parents.
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From Martha Johnson: “Peonies combine all the best of the garden – color, form, aroma and memories. My favorite part of gardening is sharing and peonies allow so much sharing. This ‘past-its-prime’ red peony plant is from my grandmother’s garden in Kentucky. We called it the Mothers’ Day peony because that is when it bloomed for her. Here we are happy to call it the Memorial Day peony. It is growing in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and here, thanks to the wonder of sharing. I would estimate that it is at least 70 years old.”
From Karen Hockley: “We have a family tradition where we spend some time with the peonies in the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden taking end-of-school pictures. This year as the peony garden sits empty of such visits, we hit a milestone in our house, a graduation. This year school pictures will be a bit different, no lovely flowers in the background but our love for the peony garden remains. Not only do I take end-of-school pictures of my three children but it also gives me free time to roam through the gardens and take pictures of these magnificent flowers. As you can tell I’m one for texture and my family and I are counting down the days till next year.”
From Duane Kirking: “The peony plant in my photo is over 130 years old. It was a gift from friends in Ohio to my great-grandparents when they started our family’s farm in Wisconsin in 1887. The source of this information is my grandmother who was born on the farm 130 years ago in 1890 and spent most of her life there. When the farm was finally sold in 2016, I dug up one of the several peonies and brought it back to Ann Arbor where it has done well. It is always the earliest of our peonies to bloom and, as you can see, even the chicken likes to smell it.”
From Linda Selwa: “These two pictures are Sarah Bernhardt peonies I bought at the peony garden sale a few years ago.
“I lost my father a few years ago, and when he was getting chemo and radiation he always stopped at the Arb to rest and reflect. When we lost him, we paid for a bench in his honor near the peony garden. I work at the hospital and his bench is where I go when I think of him or need his counsel.
“This year, the garden is closed, and it is when I see my peonies that I am reminded of his generosity and gentleness. I thought spring would never come again when he was gone, but it comes every year. Beauty is always here, giving us the energy and inspiration to open our hearts.
“Thank you for letting us share our images.”