Taking Inventory: Peony

Peonies began growing in the Overworld following the release of The Update That Changed The World in October 2013 – almost exactly a decade ago. They were added alongside many other new flowers, including azure bluets, alliums, and lilacs, and other than a small texture tweak in the Village & Pillage Update, they’ve otherwise survived unchanged since.

Peonies can be easily identified because they’re bright pink and taller than many other flowers, growing twice as high. You’ll most often find them in forest biomes, like oak forests, birch forests, dark forests, and – of course – flower forests. You won’t find them in jungles or taiga as they don’t grow so well in temperature extremes.

They’re easy to harvest. Just give them a punch with your fist and they’ll drop on the ground. But wait! If you want lots, then instead of wandering around the forest trying to find them, try using bonemeal on an existing flower. It should drop a copy of itself. Much easier!

You can turn peonies into pink dye in a crafting grid, and they can also be used to feed or breed bees. Putting peonies into a composter gives a 65% chance of raising their level, or you can put them into a flower pot instead to decorate your base.

Minecraft’s peonies are based on real-world flowering plants in the genus Paeonia, which are native to Asia, Europe, and western North America. Experts can’t agree on exactly how many species there are in the family, with guesses ranging from 25 to 40.

Like the Minecraft version, Peonies grow fairly tall – up to about a meter. They come in purple, pink, red, white, and yellow, and they tend to flower in late spring or early summer. They’re a popular garden plant, though their blooming season only lasts a week or so.

Today peonies are mostly seen as a decorative plant, but ancient Chinese texts mention them being used to flavor food and as medicine. They were particularly popular during the Tang dynasty, where they were grown in the Imperial Gardens. Today, the Netherlands is the world’s largest producer – growing about 50 million peonies each year.

Here’s a challenge for you: how many peonies can you grow in your Minecraft world? Can you find a way to automate the process, automatically bonemealing and collecting them and stuffing them in chests? Can you challenge the Netherlands for peony production? There’s only one way to find out...

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to ride my peony into the sunset. Giddy up!