The Peony Experiment

These gorgeous pink peonies are the end result of what I like to call, "The Peony Experiment."  First, a little background info.

Peonies are my FAVORITE flower. And I mean favorite. They are gorgeous. They smell divine. I wanted them for my bride bouquet from the start. I can't tell you how many pictures I oogled & oogled over. I decided from the beginning that I would nix a florist, and do my own flower arrangements (more blogging on that to come). So here came my problem.

Peonies bloom in June. My wedding was in July. So I checked out my beloved flower wholesale website. Bigger problem: wholesale peonies cost about $500 for 20 stems. Are you KIDDING me? That was more than I wanted to spend on all my bouquet flowers combined! I almost gave up hope.

But, my dear MIL Alice learned from our dear friend Martha Stewart that if you cut them while in their bud, you can preserve peonies in the fridge for up to 3 months. So this is what we did. We found peonies everywhere! My aunts house, my coworkers mothers house, even the gardens of a friend of a friend that my MIL met at the food store.


Oh, and a perk was that sometimes there were big awesome blooms to take home too. Like this one, which was as big as my head!

After all was said & done, I think I had about 100 buds stashed in refrigerators from Bangor to Boston. So anyway, 2 days before the wedding we took all the buds out of the fridge & waited. Many didn't make it through the experience, but about 20 beauties turned out perfect, and that's what you see in my bouquet!

For more detailed instructions, click here for a great tutorial.

Pretty tricky, no?