Jim Waddick asked for more information about the peony whose image I posted. Unfortunately, I really don’t know much at all. I have not actually seen it myself - I've only seen the photo. I'm told that the color in the photo is accurate. There is one flower per stem. And yes, it is in bloom now. There is more to the story. The present owner of this plant says she brought it from Iowa years ago. It came with a story: supposedly, it was brought to Iowa about a century ago with a family from the Valley of Virginia. Until I saw the photo, this all made it sound like Paeonia tenuifolia. But it's obviously not simply one of the wild forms of Paeonia tenuifolia. Hybrids of Paeonia tenuifolia have been known since the early nineteenth century - pre Civil War days. Years ago I grew one of these, so-called Paeonia × smouthii. The foliage of that plant was very much like the foliage of the plant in the photo. But the flower was much different (or at least much different as these things go). You would think that such a showy plant would have a name – even something like “the early red peony the old farm families grow”. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Paeonia wittmanniana is in full bloom. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/