Flowery Memories

So remember when I asked you to guess my favorite flower?

Did you get it?

Not irises, though I just LOVE the song by the GooGooDolls.

This lilac is called Miss Kim. Not my favorite, overall, but look how lovely she is up close!

 I'll give you another hint:

they are blooming here now.

But these are not them...

My favorite are

PEONIES!

When I was a little girl, I used to spend lots of time at my great aunt's house. She had 5 children; the 2 youngest were girls! (I had all brothers). They were about 4 and 5 years older than me so they taught me all kinds of stuff. Good stuff. I loved going there. My aunt would cook, we would play, paint nails, etc. It was a great place for a kid.

I would call this picture PROMISE, if I were going to name it.

This peony was actually just growing in my mom's yard. 

It's now been cut and is sitting on the dresser in my bedroom. So beautiful.

I can't get over this one. Her name is "Cora Stubbs"

 
So anyway, back to the story:

My aunt lived in her parent's former home. There was a large garden in which my aunt worked many hours. She taught me how to snap beans. In the open part of the yard where we played, along one side, was a row of old fashioned peonies. They were the "double" kind that were cream colored...but when you looked close, the centers were pink. They were my great grandma's peonies.

My cousins taught me how to shake out the ants before we brought our fresh cut treasures into the house.

I have loved peonies ever since then. I still love them now. I love their big, extravagant blooms, their delicate scent and their infinite variety.

I just can't get enough...

All photos that I did NOT take have been linked to their source: Klehm's Song Sparrow, who just happens to be the growers of some of the finest peonies in the world.