Peony Stem Earrings

Every gardener who has grown peonies has stood at the edge of the flower bed in early spring watching the buds swell and noticed something. The ants are already there. Crawling over every bud, patrolling every stem, completely at home in a way that makes them look less like visitors and more like they own the place. Which, in a way, they do.

The Peony and the Ant

There is a myth that has been circulating in gardens for generations that says peonies need ants to bloom. That the ants lick a sticky substance off the buds, or tickle them open, or perform some essential service without which the flowers would stay stubbornly closed. It is a lovely idea. It is also not true. A peony will open beautifully with or without ants anywhere near it.

But here is what is true, and it is just as wonderful. The peony is doing something very deliberate when it attracts those ants. Peony buds are covered in specialized glands called extrafloral nectaries, small structures on the outside of the bud that produce a sugary nectar specifically designed to attract ants before the flower opens. Not to help the flower open. Not to assist with pollination. But to hire bodyguards.

When a scout ant discovers the nectar she releases a pheromone trail back to her colony, essentially sending a message that says there is a reliable food source here and it needs defending. Her nestmates follow the trail and set up patrols all around the plant. And while they are there eating the peony's carefully produced nectar they are also attacking anything else that tries to eat the plant. Aphids. Thrips. Small caterpillars. Any insect that sees those tender swelling buds as a meal finds itself facing a colony of ants that has claimed this plant as their food source and intends to protect it.

The peony gets its most vulnerable buds protected through the entire pre-bloom period. The ants get a reliable and nutritious food source. And then, when the flower opens and the extrafloral nectar dries up, the ants move on to find the next food source and the peony blooms in peace, the deal complete.

It is not the myth but it is a genuinely remarkable arrangement between a flower and an insect.

The Piece

Two peony stems in sterling silver, each one a fully bloomed peony flower on a leafy stem, entirely handmade from scratch from recycled sterling silver. The flower head is built up in careful layers, each petal shaped individually and slightly differently from the next the way real peony petals are never quite symmetrical and never quite the same twice. The stem below carries two sets of peony leaves, their surfaces hand textured with the characteristic deeply lobed peony leaf shape, the whole thing deeply oxidized so every petal edge and leaf vein reads in rich shadow and detail.

And here is the part that makes these earrings particularly wonderful. They can be worn two different ways. The flower head alone sits as a stud earring on a sterling silver post, a single lush peony bloom at your ear, complete and perfect on its own. Or you can slide the leaf stem onto the post so it hangs behind your earlobe, the whole plant visible at once, flower in front and leaves peeking out behind in a long elegant dangle. Two earrings in one pair, which feels exactly right for a flower this generous.

Each earring is approximately 1.5 inches long and made to order just for you from recycled sterling silver.

The Craftsmanship

• Earrings: approximately 1.5 inches long
• Material: recycled sterling silver throughout, oxidized
• Style: post stud with removable leaf stem dangle, two wearing options
• Edition: made to order, each pair unique

A Note from Tamara

I made these because peonies are one of those flowers that make people feel something very specific and personal, a grandmother's garden, a late spring afternoon, that particular extravagant fullness that no other flower quite achieves. I also made them because the ant story is one of my favorite examples of a plant doing something quietly brilliant that most people walk right past without knowing about it. The peony does not need the ants. But it figured out how to make the ants want to be there anyway, and it has been using that arrangement to protect its most precious blooms for longer than any garden has existed. I hope whoever wears these looks at the ants on their peonies differently next spring.

Shipping

Your peonies will be made to order just for you in my little studio in the New Hampshire woods. Please allow one to two weeks for them to be created. You will receive a tracking number by email so you can follow them on their journey to their new home.