Peonies and a Potpourri Post

I dream about peonies in bloom all winter long. It's my favorite flower and their spring time bloom ushers in the summer season for me. I've got 4 nice sized plants that the previous owner of the house planted. I don't know what variety they are but one has double blooms and flops over much more than the others without staking.

The week or so in which the peonies are in bloom is a big deal for me. I anxiously await their arrival, take pictures, and cut a bunch to decorate my home and give away to friends. The show they put on is fabulous and far too short.

I've tried all methods of staking with some methods working better than others. The peony hoops are basically useless for the plants I have since they are far too small and the plants far too large. The best method has been staking using individual bamboo sticks. The sticks I buy are dyed green and barely noticeable, but since I have so many stalks it takes a lot of sticks and lot of time to set up.

This spring I've been really busy and never got a chance to stake up the plants. I was going to do it this week after work, but then the rain hit and I came home to this tonight after work.



What you see above is my front island bed. You can click to enlarge the photo but the peony is over towards the right side. With all the rain we've been having the entire plant is face first into the ground. The blooms are just about bursting and haven't fully opened, but will in the next few days.

Here's another view of the bed. There's two peonies in this bed (and two in another bed near the veggie garden). There's one near the tree and the other is over on the right.



Here's a closer look.... sigh....



I'd go out and stake them but it's pouring and was only able to take this photo during a brief break in the rain. I wait all year for the show and it looks like if it doesn't stop raining the chipmunks will have a better show than I.

After being so disheartened by the flopped over peonies I walked into my kitchen and saw this out the window!





I was so excited since it's the first one of the season that I've seen at our feeder. I put the feeder out every year and its right outside my kitchen window along with two other feeders that are there on the deck. I'm horrible at getting pictures of any birds so the shear fact that I even got this shot is amazing. It's a bit blurry and it's taken through a window while it's raining, but I'm thrilled I even got a few pictures at all.

Here's a wider shot of my kitchen windows and where the feeders are.



I love standing at this counter because the birds come up to feeder while I'm there preparing a meal or having a sip of coffee. To the left of the photo you can see my orchid in full bloom. I bought it last year at the Boston Flower show and didn't think it would bloom again but it did! I've surrounded this window with twinkle lights. I put them up last Christmas and loved the way they looked so I never took them down. Such simple things make me happy.



Finally for this potpourri post is a picture of Ellie with her summer haircut.



She got a bit more clipped than I would have liked, but her little peanut head is adorable. Her ears look even more like Gizmo from the Gremlins movie now that she has less fur. Actually I think she's a bit annoyed that she got a haircut... just look at the expression she's making.


See the resemblance....