Hi there! Welcome to my blog. Sunshine has been on short supply here in Ireland this past week. There have, thankfully, been snippets of it here and there, and we even had some warmer temperatures. A full ‘summer feel’ evades us, though. The upside is that my peony plants have lasted a good while! I still have one more variety to bloom (Sarah Bernhardt), and then peony season will be finished.

I decided to make a bouquet of peony today, as some of them were nearly finished anyway. I’ve really enjoyed seeing them in the garden, but there is nothing like a fresh bouquet of flowers inside! The yellow Bartzella peony has produced an abundance of flowers this season, so has become my new favorite. This is the plant that I will be moving in the fall, to the Rainbow garden, so it will fit in better with the colors there. It will sit right next to the Kansas peony, which is another showy plant with bright pink flowers.

The other interesting news from the garden is a new color of poppy. I believe that two of my colors have mixed to create this new one. This is all through nature, so I’m not sure I’ll find others in the garden. It is quite pretty, though, being a mix of coral and lavender.

I will be joining The Propagator’s meme of Six on Saturday. Feel free to join in!

I hope you enjoy the tour. 🙂

In Peace,
Dana

1 – Peony Bouquet. Peony are just so lovely and beautifully scented, what’s not to love? The only complaint would be that they don’t last nearly long enough. That possibly makes them more appealing (something like wanting more of what you can’t have?).

2 – Peony Kansas. What an outstanding color this is! Fuchsia at it’s best. I originally planted this at my ditch wall. It was there for four years, limping along. Last fall I moved it to the Rainbow garden, and it is so much happier here. I’m so glad I finally moved it. Giving plants time to settle in is one thing, not thriving is another.

3 – Peony Gardenia. The full name is paeonia lactiflora ‘Gardenia’. It smells wonderful! I bought this during lock-down in 2020 (something to do with retail therapy). We had to move it unexpectedly last year, though. And I’m not sure this is the ideal spot for it, so I will be moving it again in the fall. I think my new bed at the top of the garden will suit it much better. And everyone knows that peony plants don’t really like being moved around!

4 – Peony Bartzella, an Itoh (hybrid). You’ve seen this one before, but it’s in the bouquet and I thought the forget-me-nots looked so pretty with it. I also bought this in 2020 during lockdown – Leamore Nursery benefited greatly from my garden retail therapy! – and just two years later it has been completely covered in outstanding blooms this season. An absolute star! I’ve even grown to like the yellow color. 🙂

5 – White peony (unknown name). I know I had this one last week, too, but since I used the very last flower for my bouquet today, I thought I’d add it in again. This was moved two years ago and is finally settling in. It was well established at our back wall for many years and always had loads of blooms. It had about a dozen blooms this year, but they were much smaller than in the past. I’m hoping that it just needs time.

6 – New Color Poppy. The first picture is of the new color, the second picture shows all three colors: coral, lavender and the new mix of dark pink. Depending on the angle, you can see the coral shade in the sides of the new poppy. These are two different types of poppies, too, as one has many layers of ‘ruffled’ petals while the lavender has just a single layer of petals. I think the new one is very pretty, and would love to have them all over the garden. We’ll see what happens!

That’s all for today! I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour. Take care!