Botan (peony) flowers are originally bloom in early summer. They magnificently bloom from April to May in Japan, flowering after fresh green leaves appear.
In China and Asian cultural regions, they have long been admired as "the king of a hundred flowers", "the flower of wealth and beauty" etc.
Huyu-botan (winter peony) is the traditional Japanese horticultural species, which is artificially grown with spending time and effort to bloom in cold winter. These graceful and auspicious flowers make us enjoy beautiful colors and shapes in the shady winter when the colorful flowers almost disappear.
These fragile peony flowers are enclosed in the Wara-bocchi (straw umbrella) to protect them from the coldness of the winter.
