January 8, 2011

Fuyu-botan (winter-peony) flowers in Tsurugaoka-hachimangu


The magnificent snow-white flowers of Botan were in bloom nobly beneath the soft winter sun of January.

Thanks to the gentle and sober sunlight, the delicate petals of the flowers appeared to be royal robes made of white fine silk.

In China and Japan, the flower of peony bears the title of "the king of flowers" and is considered as the most auspicious flower.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Does anyone know the techniques for growing Fuyu-botan? I would love hi give it a try in England..

Kunihiko said...

Thank you for contacting me.

Unfortunately, I could not find the useful information written in English about growing winter peony.

In Japan, winter peony flowers are specially grown by horticultural experts with a lot of time and effort in order to delight the eyes of visitors to shrines and temples in the flowerless season of midwinter.

You can see the typical Japanese garden of winter peony in the following video on Youtube.
https://youtu.be/4Qj8oxQEgXE?list=WL&t=84

I am sorry that I couldn't be of any help.