Peony season is quite possibly my favorite. It reminds me of slow summer days in Kentucky and the smell of freshly cut grass. It reminds me of our green house on Damron Branch with the big yard and the peach and apple trees. It reminds me of my sisters, playing between our mom's four peony bushes in the backyard. Slender stems holding heavy, snowball-shaped blooms that dipped toward the ground due to their weight. Dad would mow them down every Fall and I'd be so shocked that he was mowing down Mom's flowers. I remember running to tell her what I saw happening, sure that she would be angry. I didn't know that was what made them come back next year.
Peonies remind me of all of my grandmas. Momaw Bertie could grow them beautifully, and so could Momaw Jiggs. Momaw Jiggs had these gorgeous blooms (below) in the corner of her property. This particular plant belonged to my Momaw Grace before that, and the roots came from her mom, my Granny Houck. Who knows how many generations before them started this beautiful thing.
What is even sweeter is that my two sisters now have this dark pink peony plant that you see above. They divided it last Fall, and it's blooming in their gardens this year. Five generations later, or more. Nature is amazing! And so is my Popaw Deb for taking this Polaroid for us in the 1980s, so that we could reference all these years later.
Unfortunately for me, peonies won't grow in Zone 10. But I watch my local Whole Foods (Countryside Mall for my local friends who want to fight me over their supply, haha) and grab up as many bunches as I can. And then I photograph them so that I can enjoy them on my walls the rest of the year.
If you'd like a peony print for your own walls, you can purchase them HERE. If you'd rather have one from this blog post, just let me know and I'll substitute for you. xoxo!