translation from : http://www.podrobnosti.ua/culture/2002/05/31/26704.html (translated by Marina Kasomova, Denmark, 24^th march 2004)

An exhibition of peonies in the National Botanic Garden.

31^st of May 2002.

Nadezhda Grigorieva

The National Botanic Garden made a lovely exhibition of peonies. The gentle flowers with the sophisticated perfume have always been a symbol of wealth and luxury. In the exhibition there were shown around 170 varieties of peonies.

The place of origin of peonies is China. There the luxurious scented flowers were grown in the gardens of emperors. Some varieties were exchanged for gold.

Their name, the peonies got from an ancient Greek healer, Peon, who cured a Greek god Pluto from his wounds. In those times the peonies were widely used in medicine. They were also considered magic – it was believed that they drive away evil spirits.

Nowadays, there exist more than 4500 different varieties. By convention they are divided to three groups: Chinese, medical and hybrids. The collection of the Botanic Garden named after Grishko has about 550 varieties and it is considered one of the largest in Eastern Europe. The exhibition presents the plants of the English, American, French and domestic selection.

Vasilyi Gorobets, Ph.D. says: “Today we want to show the wealth of peony varieties. ^*1 We exhibit over 170 sorts of peonies with the different shape and type of flowers and with the different scent.”

Typically, the introduction of a new variety takes 15-20 years. The best of the Ukrainian collection is a peony 'Zhemtchuzhnaja Rossyp' ('Pearl drops”*). This plant received a second prize on an exhibition in Holland.

Right next to the live aromatic flowers one can see the works of an artist Nina Minchenko. When the real peonies fade away, the master preserves their beauty in her works.