My peonies are blooming like crazy and they have miraculously stood up against the rain earlier in the week. This has made me so happy I thought I’d take a picture and share them with you.
And now, a poem about peonies:
Pink and White
by Deborah GarrisonPeonies are the only flower I care for
and when I saw them from the window
yesterday, tumbled and heavy along
a fence, fully exploded, nodding
at the ground, hanging their heads but not
yet spoiled, I remembered
a summer (maybe seven years
ago, or was it ten?) I wasn’t sure
our love would come again,
and here I am, almost
kissing the grass like that,
bursting and rich, cracked
all over like broken cake–
makes you cry but still sweet.And here’s another picture:
The grass in the foreground is a prairie grass called, appropriately, June Grass (Koeleria macrantha), I planted last spring and is now blooming for the first time. It’s even prettier than I expected.
Happy June! Happy weekend!
21 Responses to Pretty Pink Peonies
Great photos. Love the peonies, and the poem. They’ve always been one of my favorite flowers, and the only way I can get them here is at the florist!
Beautiful pictures and a great poem! I’m so happy it’s summer
Wonderful pictures! Your flowers are beautiful.
Amanda
Hey! Koeleria macrantha! It grows in B.C. grasslands too. (Yes, we have grasslands. We have everything!).
I’m so jealous of your peony! I am rethinking my peony situation. I have red and candystripe peonies next to some lavender, which is not exactly a harmonious colour combination. Pink might work. Hmm….
Lovely! I need to post a few pics of my flowers, since my lavender is now in bloom. I got some good pictures of the dogwood blooms, the irises, and the azaleas, while they were in bloom earlier in the year. Hopefully we’ll get some substantial rain soon to make up a bit for the drought here.
Wow those are beautiful! I haven’t tried peonies but maybe I should. I love the poem too – did you write it?
I’d love to have you contribute to my Sunday Garden Tour roundup this week. Mr. Linky will be up at a wrung sponge on Sunday and I am eager to see what is in everyone’s gardens.
Your flowers are beautiful. Peonies always remind me of my mom & my grandfather. One year, my grandfather thought the neighbors’ garden needed thining, and he had the perfect spot for peonies in my mother’s yard. Conspiratorially, we transplanted the peonies. I found out years later he had permission, (of course! What was I thinking?) but as a child it seemed a daring adventure to liberate flowers from the garden of the old lady next door. The next year, new owners tore out their peonies; my mom’s bloomed for 30+ years. She used to cut some and put in a vase so tall it had to be set on the floor. Ants always seemed to track in with the cut flowers, but it was worth it since they were so pretty. Remembering this makes me smile! Thanks for sharing your photos.
Gorgeous!
Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing the joy.
Lovely! My peony roots arrived on Thursday. I planted them according to the directions and added some bone-meal to the soil. I hope mine come up as lovely as yours. I can just smell them…
They’re gorgeous! Mine are still buds, but I’m afraid they’ll bloom about the time our huge rainstorm hits this coming week. If that happens, I’m cutting them for a vase. I’ve lost mine to rain three years in a row!
Thanks for the gorgeous pictures…
I’m here from The Blogroll Game.
They are so beautiful! Mine aren’t even close to flowering yet! (and may not manage it).
I’m so glad everyone liked the peonies! Maybe I’ll have to post more garden pictures as the season progresses.
Sylvia, there isn’t much in the way of grasslands around here anymore, but I am doing my small part to help the native plants survive. I had no idea koeleria macrantha grew in BC too. that’s pretty cool. Have you considered a white peony? I’ve only got the pink, but I am thinking of getting a white one next year.
Geekgirl, Your garden sounds lovely! Do post some pictures!
Cloudscome, I did not write the poem, it is by Deborah Garrison.
Cam, what a wonderful story!
Akelda, my peony is about four years old now. The first year it flowered there were maybe two or three blooms. Each year it gets more and more.
Marianne, thanks for stopping by! I hope the rain doesn’t ruin your peonies!
I’ll think happy flower thoughts for you Litlove.
I came here by accident looking for some book reviews and was struck by your peony pictures. I have a beautiful cream blushed pink which was transplanted from Yorkshire to Kent (giving the lie to the idea that peonies don’t like being moved!)I wonder if you know this beautiful poem about peonies by Mary Oliver?
PEONIES: Mary Oliver
This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
and they open -
pools of lace,
white and pink -
and all day the black ants climb over them,
boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away
to their dark, underground cities -
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,
the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding
all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again -
beauty the brave, the exemplary,
blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?
Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
Hope you liked the poem. I’ll come by and listen to talk about books again!
Octavo
Octavo, thanks for visiting. Your peony sounds beautiful. I know Mary Oliver, but I didn’t know about her peony poem. Thank you for sharing it! It’s lovely.
Those peonies are lovely. I have never tried peonies, but it might be too dry for them here. I love that grass too!
Your flowers are beautiful! Happy June Stefanie.
Thanks Mom Unplugged!
And thanks and happy June to you too Iliana
Those are gorgeous. Why does nothing I try to grow look this nice??
Thanks Danielle. Will it make you feel better if I tell you that for some reason I can’t grow a carrot longer than two inches? And sweet pea vines never make it further than halfway up the fence.
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