The dirt on the Indiana state flower
The peonies seem to be blooming early this year. The showy, fragrant flowers of the peony typically burst their blooms for a few short weeks from late May to early June before the stems droop from the weight of the mammoth flowers.
But how did the peony — native to China, not Indiana — get to be the official state flower?
There was a great deal of debate over the subject in the 1957 legislature. A bill in the Senate called for the tulip tree blossom to be reinstated to replace the zinnia. At the last minute, it was changed to the dogwood blossom. By the time it got to the House, Rep. Laurence Baker of Kendallville persuaded the House Public Policy Committee to amend it to read peony. The measure passed.
You see, Baker had an ulterior motive. He was a commercial peony grower with farms in Kendallville, Bloomington and Corydon.
Indiana is one of a handful of states that adopted non-native flowers as its state flower.
Indiana has had four official state flowers. The carnation (native to England) was adopted by the legislature in 1913. The second, the flower of the tulip tree (actually native to Indiana), was adopted in 1923. Third, the zinnia (from Mexico) was adopted in 1931. The tulip tree itself was adopted as the state tree in 1931.
In 1995, the Indiana Academy of Science joined forces with the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society to launch the State Flower Project, an effort to select an Indiana native as the new official flower. A group of 55 experts and over 27,000 fourth-graders selected the same flower from a list of 13 native flora. The fire pink, with its tiny clusters of red starlike wildflowers, won over the judges. Despite attempts to propose the fire pink as the state flower, the measure never bloomed in the legislature.