It has been 15.5 years since I first saw this Peony and I have been looking for it ever since.
I'm delighted to say I found a source just before Christmas.
It will be fall of 2020 before he can ship my plant... but at least I have a plant to look forward to instead of more searching.

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I was walking the grounds of my favorite botanic garden on a beautiful spring morning in 2004 when I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks. Ten feet in front of me, backed up by a dark evergreen Holly hedge, was a mature specimen of Paeonia 'Hesperus' in full bloom.The sun was still low in the sky and the light had that magical quality the early morning permits... and it illuminated the enormous blooms from behind.
I have always had a soft spot for Peonies... waiting for the buds to finally open is a great exercise in patience... enjoying their beauty and fragrance for the short time they are fully opened is, for me, a time of pure pleasure... and watching them slowly fade is akin to a mourning period. Yes, I know that sounds melodramatic... but it is accurate.
Seeing 'Hesperus' in full bloom, however, made me feel I had never really seen a Peony before.
The blooms were enormous... and each petal, glowing in that early morning light, looked as though it had been cut from crepe paper or exceptionally sheer silk.
All these years later I still have trouble understanding why I only photographed one bloom. It must have seemed, at the time, that one bloom summed up the entire plant... that an image of the all the blooms would have somehow detracted from the beauty of each bloom.
I'm still trying, fifteen years later, to find a source for this Peony... and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will. I know, however, I'll keep looking.

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