Love Letter
Dear readers,
‘Why don’t you write a love letter to the Peony for once?’ Pauliina told me when I asked if she could think of a subject for the newsletter. ‘They’re so beautiful, and you always forget all about them.’ Her ever-cheerful face turned stern for a moment. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but it hit home. You don’t want to hear it, but of course she was absolutely right. Right about me forgetting the Peony all summer, and absolutely right, of course, that they are so beautiful.
Pauliina is the digidonna behind the Fluwel website. Everything you think works well in our online shop is thanks to her. She works behind the scenes, behind two large computer screens, and she wandered into our office from Finland. Her roots lie in the far north of Finland. Back when people still knew for certain that the Earth was flat, up there you were just about at the point where you would fall off the edge. We have grown wiser, and these days we know that the Earth is round, just like a pancake.
Later, when I grow up, I am going to see it for myself, up there in Lapland. In summer, it is so bright there that even the sun sees the light. Then she has a bright idea: ‘I won’t set today, because I’ll only have to rise again tomorrow.’ Seeing that beautiful sunrise and sunset is on my wish list. In winter it is so cold there that even time freezes. I’m already looking forward to it. I’ll go by bike (in the back of the van).
If you are thinking of trying Peonies in your garden, may I be so bold as to recommend one of the so-called ‘Itoh’ Peonies? In the Fluwel Peony range you will find a number of Peonies with ‘Itoh’ after their name. These Peonies belong to a different branch of the Peony family. They stay green longer and grow into beautiful garden shrubs. They are not like the better-known Sarah Bernhardt types, which put on an explosion of flowers in May and June, then modestly retreat and begin their winter sleep as early as late summer. No, Itoh Peonies have big flowers and grow into even bigger plants. Their flowering is not quite as exuberant, but it is spread over a longer period. In the photo above is a three-year-old clump of Border Charm that has grown into an elegant shrub and then later dies down gracefully in October in vivid autumn colours.
One more little Peony for dessert: my favourite, Jan van Leeuwen. Her flowers aren’t the longest-lasting, but there are plenty of them and I simply think she is incredibly beautiful. A good, healthy and reliable plant, always full of cheerful flowers, as fresh as ice cream.
Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
Really beautiful.
We’d better be careful the Daffodil doesn’t get jealous now that I am writing a lyrical ode to the Peony. The Daffodil needn’t worry. I think the Peony is beautiful, but the Daffodil is and always will be my favourite. Something else that was beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful, was a border of Daffodils I planted alternately with Peonies. The two really do go very well together. They were almost pressed right up against each other: Peony, Daffodil, Peony, Daffodil, all the way along the border. There weren’t even ten centimetres between them, and they were as happy as Larry and flowered their heads off this spring, their second year in the ground. Feel free to try that too: combining Peonies with Daffodils
Pauliina also told me not to forget to mention that today (25.10.2026) is the last day you can combine orders containing Amaryllis and Peonies and so avoid paying shipping costs twice. Yes, Pauliina handles the housekeeping announcements as well. Does she speak Dutch yet, you may be wondering? No, not yet, but we can tell that she understands it very well. Ask her a question in Dutch and the answer comes back in English at lightning speed. It is incredible how quickly she turns the Dutch into Finnish, then translates the Finnish into English, and while she is probably still busy doing all that, you can already hear her answer. A fine bit of HI (human intelligence). Even so, it is about time for her to finish with Finnish.
What else is there to go over? It is finally getting colder outside. The soil is cooling down and the trees are beginning to change colour. Time to plant flower bulbs. Next week we will be planting our large collection of well over a thousand varieties again. Always good fun, pottering about in the field. If you also fancy a bit more poking and pottering about in the garden, there is still a lovely selection of flower bulbs available in the Fluwel online shop.
Time to stop and go back to the shed to send out all those little orders. That is fun work too.
Kind regards and see you next week,
Carlos van der Veek
