Saturday, July 3, 2010

My New Favourite Flower

Discovering a new flower or plant is always a joy.  There are so many amazing plants available to us as gardeners and we are so lucky to be able to enjoy them.  I love walking into a nursery and discovering something I had never heard of or even imagined existed.  Then there's another type of discovery.  The discovery of the plant you've always known.  I remember seeing peonies as a small child.  While visiting another person's home I saw these huge floppy pink flowers and thought they were the most beautiful things I had ever seen.  And then I forgot about them.  So while I knew they existed I have never had peonies in my own garden.  When we purchased this house I found there were four peonies growing here.  I had an idea that they needed some staking and rings were put up to hold them but beyond that I didn't know anything about them.  Over the last month the buds have been expanding and expanding.  This last week they burst forth in a profusion of colour.  I'm entranced and I want more.  Three of my peonies are bright pink and one bush is a dark red.  I love the red ones and I know white peonies exist also.  My garden wish list just got larger.

11 comments:

Laura said...

What a pretty pink! I have a couple. One dark rouge & the other hot pink. I just planted a small plant sale find. I'm curious what I'll get if and when it blooms!

Anonymous said...

I love peonies and finally added them to my garden this year. All three varieties that I planted were divisions of plants from family or friends, including from my mother who had never grown peonies until she inherited them with the house my parents moved to in retirement. My one requirement for peonies, more important than color, is that they be fragrant. I love to cut them, put them in a vase, and let their delicious scent suffuse the whole house. Enjoy! -Jean

Marguerite said...

@Laura - I know exactly what you mean. We moved in last fall and I knew the peonies were there but I've been waiting anxiously to find out what colour they were! I didn't get a picture of it but there is one bush on the side of the house that's a dark, almost red. I drool just thinking about it.

@Jean - I read your posts on dividing peonies and was thrilled for the lesson. At some point when work on the outside of the house begins we'll have to move all the peonies so this information will be incredibly helpful. I had no idea peonies had a scent until this last week. I took a bouquet to my office and the scent filled every room. Thankfully no one was allergic and we all got to enjoy the sight and smell of them.

Anonymous said...

Marguerite, I wanted to let you know that I'm featuring your blog (along with two others) this month on my blog, Jean's Garden. A post reviewing the blogs will appear today, and they will be highlighted on my sidebar all month. -Jean

jane .. said...

hey, marguerite .. how lovely to have gifts of peonies at your new place .. they really are so beautifull .. i particularly like the "single" ones .. although, that said, they are all delightful ..

lifeshighway said...

I love peonies but have always been a little afraid of having them. They look so high maintenance and I am a lackluster gardener easily distracted.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

They are beautiful! I can imagine how exciting was to discover them in your garden! I've never seen a peony that I didn't like. Such elegant flowers! I have good childhood memories about this plant. They grow in wild in the Russian Far East.
Your pictures are very good!

Tracy said...

Just found your blog through jeansgarden - beautiful peonies! I don't have any in my gardens but plan to get some one of these days. Looking forward to following your garden progress.

Anonymous said...

Peonies are so beautiful, I just wish they bloomed longer. I would like to add some late season bloomers to my garden.
Yours is a beauty.
Jennifer

Marguerite said...

Hello everybody, we're on holiday here this week at the Corner so unfortunately I can't respond to all you at this time but wanted to say welcome and thanks for stopping by and sharing your wonderful comments. I am reading when I can but posting will be a little slow this week. Marguerite

Anonymous said...

Ahhh peonies, my old favourite flower. My grandmother used to tie them on my brthday present, so that always got me excited. If you love the pink, red and white, wait till you see the coral, gorgeous!