First Peonies of The Season

The ant 🐜 is a bonus. They are supposed to be good for the peonies as they eat the sticky nectar which helps them open.

My busy days in real estate have slowed down because the house is under contract for a June 21 closing. Will keep you posted.

Now I am busy with mowing and more mowing. Most of my pots are planted in the front garden and on my balcony. May has been exceptionally cool and I have enjoyed it. Have a great Memorial Day tomorrow. xo

A red one is opening this morning.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY🇱🇷

xo

White Peonies on Saturday Morning

My whites are making a comeback! Now you can see why I am so fond of them. Peony season is short but I still enjoy the deep green foliage after clipping back all the spent flowers.

What to do with peonies after blooming?

Only remove the spent blooms, and don't cut away any foliage (the plant will need those leaves to help build up flowers for next year). For herbaceous peonies, you can cut the whole plant to the ground after a fall frost has killed off the foliage. In the spring new growth will appear from the roots. xo

Peony Fever

All of my peonies are opening at once. Usually my white ones are first followed by red and pinks are always last. My white ones are getting squeezed out and I might have to move them. I tried doing it last year but they seem to be cemented in. Will try again when I cut them back.

These are my favorites.

I mowed the front today in this COOL weather (66° at 5pm). I can hardly believe I had my central air on all day yesterday. I guess the peonies are confused too. I'm not complaining about nice weather for working outside. xo

My Peonies

While scrolling Instagram this week I learned the true botanical name of my white peonies. Introducing Jan van Leeuwen. I picked what's left and have little bouquets all over the house. The hard rains earlier this week were not kind to peonies in full bloom😔

Home Page with Updates

Peony in A Friend's Garden

I took this photo yesterday in a friend's garden. She has many different varieties, including a large Tree Peony but this blossom was my favorite. I darkened the background to make it even more exciting with my photo editing software. Mine are drooping in the rain right now but three days of sun are on the way to dry them out. Spring flowers are the best, aren't they?

♡HOME♡

Hello June (First Peonies)

My white peonies are always the first to open. They close up at night and haven't awakened yet this morning. I was thrilled to see them yesterday when I took this photo. Welcome June! I have high hopes for your in the garden. xo

♡HOME♡

Peony Love at My Cottage

This white single peony is always the first to bloom. Photographed yesterday with an insect as a bonus. When these whites bloom, they are always faintly pink in the opening stage.

The pink mop head peonies will be opening soon.

The red ones are singles too and are about ready to pop.

I don't know if you remember this mystery plant from last year that planted itself in my garden. I have no idea how it got there and I am on the fence about liking it but don't have the heart to dig it up. It has already spread quite a bit. It's called Spider Wort and the leaves are an electric yellow and bright green. The purple flowers grow in clustered pods and bloom once before another pod opens up with a new flower. 

I found this photo on Instagram @eyesasbigasplates and couldn't resist making a screenshot to show you the largest giant red rhubarb I have ever seen. What is it about Norway that makes it grow so large? One stalk would be enough for a pie. I hope these girls were able to share this crop with friends.

It has been raining for the past several days and I have been catching up with paperwork in my attic office. See you later. xo

My Peonies in the Bud Stage

I was standing outside my brick wall to take this photo to show the true height of these giant peony plants. My peonies are tall and healthy this year and the three varieties have probably spread so much they are too close together. In the fall, I plan to try dividing them. 

The buds get larger every day but I don't think they are going to be opening quite yet. They get more sun in the afternoon than they do in the morning but that's fine with me. Once they start blooming they don't last nearly long enough, do they? 

Tasha Tudor House and Gardens

Tasha Tudor's son built the house by hand without the aid of power tools. She loved Corgis, painting, gardening, and an old-fashioned life. via

Can you imagine in your wildest dreams having a row of pink peonies like this? Sigh. xo

Rainy Monday Photos at My Cottage

My front entrance this morning on a rainy Monday

Pink and proud. Still looking lovely in a soft rain. Notice clipped boxwood in background,

Riffled white hiding from the rain.

Ruffled white peony. I love this variety.

Petals are falling.

Red barn garage with loft, back entrance. Don't my clipped boxwood look nice? I am liking my wild field too. Serious grass cutting will be done the next nice day. xo

More of My Peonies + Happiness Quote

As promised, here are my red and white peonies opened up showing their yellow centers. I completely forgot they close up in the late afternoon and are still closed in the early morning. They are like me, they go to bed early and open slowly the next day. I shall watch them closely this morning to see what time they fully open and awake. For me, it's after two cups of coffee.

via

I love this quote: 

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things." 

Henry Ward Beecher

Another view of my front garden from from farther back. I clipped all 15 of my American boxwood earlier this week and they look neat and tiny now. The large one left center is an English box I transplanted my garden when I moved. It is the mate for the two  at the end of my front walk at the driveway. I didn't clip this one at all. 

Enjoy your Sunday. xo

My Peony Garden

I took this photo late Saturday afternoon, the last day of May. This morning the peonies have opened showing their beautiful yellow centers. The ferns I dug from my woods are spectacular this year too. Will post a photo later. Happy First Day of June. The ferns I dug from my woods are really thick and healthy this year because of all the rain. xo Click photo to enlarge.

Rabbit with Peonies

"My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness." Michelangelo

The Wonderful Artist: Koo Schandler's Homepage

The peonies here at my cottage are standing tall but have no buds yet. They are aching for some sun but there is none on the horizon for the upcoming week. They can't complain about lack of rain though because we have had plenty. Have a great weekend no matter what the weather.

💦💧💦💧💦💧💦UPDATE: I was wrong. All of my peonies have small buds. Yay!

Pink Peony Portraits

My pink peonies are way too heavy to stand upright and are in their last days in the garden. I put a white plastic bag on the ground to photograph this one after a soft, short rain yesterday.

Good bye peonies. See you next year in all your beauty.

The Peony Garden from My Window

It's hard to believe the very spot where my peonies are planted was buried in snow higher than the birdbath in March. They bloomed much later than usual and I was a little worried at first because the buds were so small. They slowly got larger and larger until they were back to normal in every way, including their beauty. This is the view from the window over my desk in the pantry. Covering this garden with woodchips last summer was a huge task but it paid off with fewer weeds to pull this year. So far I have been able to keep up with them on a daily basis.

Duchess Peony Painting

Duchess Peony ~ Mia Tarney via

More Peonies and A Field Mowing

Here are my ruffled white peonies open. They are my favorites because of their beauty and because they don't droop since the heads are so light. They close up on cloudy days and at night to protect their delicate blossoms. Peony season is the best, isn't it?

My friend with a tractor showed up unannounced late yesterday afternoon to mow my field and he ended up mowing my lawn too. Everything will green up and be uniform in no time. I didn't come inside again until almost eight o'clock when I took this photo. I still have to do some handwork here and there and I had to use my leaf blower in the front but that was fun. I am so glad to have this task behind me to maintain my field so trees don't grow back there. An unmowed field will become a forest in no time. 

I took this photo today at noon so show how nice my front lawn and garden are looking.

Today, it feels more like fall with an overcast sky and 63° at ten o'clock on Sunday morning with rain coming tomorrow. Tuesday will be filled with nothing but sunshine though and that makes me happy. Enjoy your Sunday. xo

First Peony to Open 2018

My single ruffled white peony is always the first to open, followed by my red ones, and then the pink ones are last. This one opened when the sun came out yesterday after the rain. It was very translucent, as shown by the raindrops on the top petal. They are on the reverse side!!! For some reason, the petals have a pink tint when they first appear but change to a bright white when fully open and one of my Instagram followers says they look like fried eggs.

The sun is out, the sky is hazy and it's going to be hot and humid today with 84° as the high. Bring it on because tomorrow the high will be only 66° and will be wonderful for working outside. Mother Nature is so unpredictable, isn't she? Have a great weekend. xo

Coral Charm Peonies

Coral Charm Peony ~ Mia Tarney

I honestly can't tell if this is a painting that looks like a photo or a photo that looks like a painting. Either way, these peonies are gorgeous. I don't have this variety but mine are coming up very nicely and are about two feet tall with small buds. How does your garden grow?
After more research, I learned this is a painting and it's simply gorgeous, isn't it? Her flower paintings are beyond amazing.

My Peonies This Year (2017)

I only have five blooming peonies today, the pink ones. There are some secondary buds that will still produce small flowers which I also love. The white ones are all gone and so are the red ones. They were really beautiful this year, thanks to all the rain we had in May.

I took the last photo this morning. All were made with my iPhone 🌸