BY LESLIE REGO
When we are out hiking, my handsome husband Alfredo always asks me, “How do you see these things?” That especially holds true for the Western peony, a flower very difficult to spot. What I find myself doing when I am in the mountains is to scan the ground around me. I look for shapes or colors that do not conform with the general surroundings. If I am seeing a lot of linear grasses and suddenly a dipping curve comes into view, I stop to investigate. That is how I found the leopard lily amongst a ton of lupine.
The other evening we were hiking in Fox Creek when I scanned the ground and discovered a bluish-green color, different from all of the neighboring greens. I approached and found a grouping of deeply segmented leaves and a few thick stems. The stems were bent over until they practically brushed the dirt. Upon closer inspection, I observed a heavily rounded flower on the ends of the stems: the Western peony, also know as the wild peony (Paeonia brownii ).
In the springtime there are very showy flowers like the lupine and arrowleaf balsamroot and a few quiet beauties. The Western peony is one of the most lovely of the “quiet beauties.” You really need to get intimate with the flower, kneeling right down into the ground, to peer into its head. Only then do you get the full impact of its charm. Looking at just the outer sepals, the bloom appears green and blends into the leaves. But when the flower is turned over, rich red and bright yellow colors reveal themselves. The petals are red, tinged with a yellow green. They surround lemony yellow stamens which in turn surround thick pistils that eventually become pods. The flower exudes a combination of linear strength coupled with curvilinear pods and cup-like sepals and petals, all of which combine to make an artist’s paradise.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit www.leslierego.com.