March - Early Windflower

The botanical art print of Peony (Paeonia) “Early Windflower” painting is now ready and available for sale! Apart from peony paintings and fine art, in our “Peony of the Month” project we discuss peony garden design and floral arrangement!

We chose “Early Windflower” because it's an early-flowering peony. She is a simple, yet very elegant flower with a beautiful combination of white, gold and deep green colours, perfect for the beginning of spring and Easter. We were excited about using this elegant peony in a floral arrangement for this month's Mother's Day in the United Kingdom, and also sharing ideas about garden design with "Early Windflower.

Join us in our "Peony of the Month Chat Show" to find out all you can do with it.

"Early Windflower" is a single-petal peony. It means she has only one row of petals and might look a bit modest compared to bigger, blousier peonies. However, the nodding flowers have a unique elegance to them, resembling those of Japanese anemones.

"Early Windflower" is a herbaceous peony which, as the name hints, blooms rather early - starting in late spring. She grows fast and produces many stems and flowers so it's quite easy to care for her. 

The deep-green rich foliage is beautiful in itself, so even before the flowers appear, she will look nice in your garden! 

We have selected her because we were captivated by the elegance of her white, pure flowers, tall, slim stems and long, deep-green leaves. Such combination of vibrant, crisp colours immediately evoke the feeling of spring and bring excitement and freshness after a long winter! 

Also, "Early Windflower" is an early-blooming peony, which means that it's we won't have to wait too long to see her! 

Binny Plants recommends choosing perennials that will complement "Early Windflower" to create a soft, natural look and let the beauty of the single peony flowers speak for themselves.  

Their first choice to create such an effect was Dryopteris cycadina (Black or Shaggy Wood Fern) - photo courtesy of RHS. It's beautiful, large, upright and hardy fern. Semi-evergreen (depending on where you live and how cold your winters are) with a striking shuttlecock appearance. What's interesting about this fern is its black hairy stems - they truly accentuate the deep green of the leaves. 

Their second choice is Hakonechloa macra 'Beni-kaze' - a graceful clump-forming Japanese grass. Each year, this deciduous grass gets thicker and broader. It forms a weeping low style of grass, with broad leaves. In the autumn it will turn stunning shades of red, orange and yellow- something to look forward to after the peony season ends!

These two perennials, together with our March peony, will create a beautiful and, more importantly, very natural-looking, white-and-green mosaic in your garden. In addition, the clumping habits of the perennials won't outcompete the roots of the peony.

March is a month filled with renewal, awakening, and excitement of budding life. Everything feels fresh and is filled with more energy! However, March is also a time when we remember about motherly love and women's strength. 

This time, Jens had not only one, but two suggestions for floral designs using "Early Windflower"! Here they are shown using roses instead, as peonies aren't in season yet.

The first arrangement is simple and elegant, perfect for busy people - he adorned a single peony flower with a lettuce leaf and tied with a natural string. You can put in on a white plate and let the peony's beauty shine. It'll be a chic addition to your dinner table.

The other arrangement was a bouquet created with peonies, camomile, blueberry twigs and ivy. It combines the simple beauty of elegant peonies and fresh, straightforward charm of other plants. Very vibrant, with creams, whites and various shades of green. It was our proposition for this year's Mothering Sunday!

Please note due to the season, Jens has created these arrangements with white rose replacement of Early Windflower for demonstration purpose.

Botanical Art on the Wall 

All peonies from the Peony of the Month collection are painted by Siyuan Ren and turned into a limited edition series. There will be only 35 prints available of each peony. Each piece will be numbered and signed.

Click here to view the "Early Windflower" print in the store.