Imported Happiness

Peonies are easily my favorite flower. And that’s why Pete included them in my latest blog header, how sweet. Mom and dad had a big ol’ peony patch that I coveted year after year; I even (tried to) paint the blossoms during the summer I was really into oil painting (circa. 2000). Because Mom spends time taming back some of her plants every fall, I ended up with some really hearty, well rooted peony plants for my own garden in the fall of 2009.

Unfortunately, as they started to grow last spring, the dog doused them, if you catch my drift. They didn’t even have a chance. I expelled lots of emotions over this and I subsequently trained the dog not to pee in that corner of the yard. This isn’t a post about my dog or excretion. Moving on.

I can happily report that they’re back this year. And then it gets annoying again; mine are much more stunted than others I see in the community. Maybe they don’t get enough sun, maybe the cooler weather by the lake is delaying their development. But today they look like this. Here’s to hoping I get one or two or maybe three blooms. Even little blooms would do.

Oh sweet embarrassment, I really need to weed and mulch back there.

That was a nice long way of getting to my real point, that I hope those peonies keep on keepin’ on so in another month I can retire these babies:

I found them at a garage sale a few years ago (for a sweet $2) and I don’t have any history accumulating fake flowers, but being peonies, in good condition no less, I decided to give it a shot. The stems were kind of long, which I felt was oddly distracting to the overall look and feel I was going for, so this year I hacked the stems a little shorter to display in a smaller vase.

Hell, I’ll even admit that I misted them with some Peony Bath & Body Works body spray someone gave me one time. These can work for me until the real deal is in bloom.

Ooh, how about a bonus shot with Cody, since be was behaving while I snapped from a few different angles: