Tag Archives: peonies

If Only I Could Write a Blooming Blog Post

I ran today, thinking I would sneak in another running commentary.  It was a dull and boring run.  At least, for a while I enjoyed it quite a bit.  But I think it was only interesting to me as I was running it and it would not entertain anybody, least of all myself, to make a blog post about it.  Still, a blog post must be made (because I say it does, that’s why!). I am currently cooking, so I could do a cooking post. If only I were doing something more interesting than heating up leftovers.

If only I could bestir myself sufficiently to take the Tablet out to the yard.  At least one iris bloomed today.  I posted a picture of the buds the other day.  I think some readers would be pleased to be posted on current developments.  Just a moment first, to stir the pot on the stove and lower the heat under it.  And find the Tablet (as you may recall, I have a habit of misplacing it).

Maybe if I would have stood on my head…

I guess it’s not the best picture, because the stem is kind of bent over.  Believe me, I know how it feels!  Perhaps I should put a tomato cage over it or something. Steven arrived home while I was taking the picture, and I was able to assure him that I TOLD the young man who mows the lawn not to mow down the daisies, as Steven had asked him to do.  You see, this nice young man who lives across the street offered to mow our lawn.  In addition to being quite busy and (on my part, at least) a little lazy, we were happy to encourage this example of young entrepreneurship.  The first time he did it, he did not mow the daisies in our front yard, which have become a little extensive this year.  Steven told him to mow them this time.  At the last minute, I reprieved them, though, because they were just too pretty.  Here is a picture.

He loves me, he loves me not…

In front of the daisies is a peony bush that magically appeared after we had sufficiently discouraged the wild day lilies.  I insisted it had been planted by my stalker, a statement that has yet to be disproved.  The peonies have not bloomed yet, but look how many buds:

It started as one lone stalk and blossom, and there’s a lesson for all of us.

The main problem with the daisies is that they hide the lilies of the valley, which are also multiplying exponentially.   However, I’m finding those blooms don’t show very well even without anything in front of the greenery.  I tried to get a picture.

If you look really close, you can just see a few bells.

I’ve picked a few lilies of the valley and brought them inside.  I used a shot glass for a vase, because they are so small (Steven collects shot glasses, although we rarely do a shot of anything).  I love the smell.  I tired to get a picture, but I fear they were backlit and do not show.

It’s frogs on either side of the flowers. Steven collects those, too.

We also have some daisies inside.  Steven put them in water with blue food coloring, at my suggestion.  I think they’re pretty.

Oh, yeah, he loves me.

So for not a running post and not a cooking post, I think this makes a pretty good flower post.  We’ll call it a win for Non-Sequitur Thursday.

 

Nosferatu and Flowers

I wonder if I should make Nosferatu the mascot of this blog.  This evening, not wanting to do another Running Commentary  and having no other blog post anywhere in my brain, I went out into my yard and took some pictures on my tablet.  I used the tablet to transfer the pictures to my blog then went to the laptop to add the words (hoping I could think of some).  And look what the first picture was:

Isn’t he charming? I must have tapped the picture by accident.

Being less than computer literate can add interest to one’s life, I find.  Getting back to the pictures I intended to use,  here are some tulips in our front yard:

They are surrounded by lilies of the valley, which has not bloomed yet.

We did not plant any tulips, but the first spring we were in this house, one yellow tulip sprouted.  Yay!  It has taken some years, but now we are getting several.  The picture doesn’t show it, but there are more buds which have not bloomed yet.

What our front yard had in abundance at first were wild orange day lilies.  The stems were long and didn’t have any leaves on them.  I thought they looked blowsy.  Steven kept mowing them down and eventually they got discouraged.  That was when a single shoot of peony came up.  That has multiplied in succeeding years as well.  Here is a photo of the peony bush so far:

I’ll post another picture when they bloom.

Moving into the backyard, I took a picture of a lovely plant we purchased at a Garden Festival at the Herkimer Home in Little Falls.  I forget what it is called.

I like that the greenery is so pretty even without the flowers.

It has grown and spread since the first year, which I do not mind a bit.  In fact, a little piece of it magically appeared further back in the yard, near my chives:

Yeah, there’s a dandelion, too, but I don’t dare pull it up, because I read somewhere that dandelions are good for bees.

So this is my yard before I have done any work in it.  Since I led with Max Schreck, I wish I could say it looked a little scary, but I think it is actually kind of nice.  I hope to post more pictures as it starts to look even better.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.