It’s really lovely in our yard right now. This is just a small part of the beauty I get to see every day! (click on any picture to see a larger slide-show version)

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We went this year as we’ve done every year for a while now, out to Delano to Countryside Gardens to see their peony show. It was the perfect day for a long drive into the country, and the flowers were worth the effort to get there. In the end, we brough two new ones home. Red Grace, a stunning deep red peony with a bloom nearly a perfect globe shape. We’ve been waiting three years for this grower to have enough of these to start selling them, and this year was our year. The other was Laura Dessert, a Japanese form with white outer petals and a yellow center that is supposed to be very fragrant.

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This one is a dark maroon red color. It’s the last thing I see when I leave home and the first I see when I arrive back- from neighbor Margaret.

One of the prior owners planted this peony – and in the entirely wrong place – nestled under an ash tree with little. The brave little thing clung to life but never thrived. When we lost the ash tree to last fall’s ice storm, we were glad that we had moved it. Now it lives in the back of the garden – Peony Lane – and is thriving in the full sun that peonies so much love. And the bloom opened even more when we cut it and brought it in – with the most heavenly smell. One neighbor said she hadn’t smelled a peony like that since her grandmother’s garden. Lovely, just lovely.

One of the two we bought at the show yesterday -the blossom opened overnight.

Today we went to the annual peony show at Countryside Gardens. (Actually, we showed up last Saturday too because we read the date wrong.) Anyway, I thought you might enjoy some of these photos from today’s visit. We got two new plants today, Red Charm and Do Tell. Can’t wait to see them joining the rest of our peony beauties which are just coming into bloom now.

Gorgeous,no? At first we thought it was Sarah Bernhardt, but now we realize it is Gay Paree, loaded with blooms this year.

Another gorgeous snow-white peony, this time from the neighbor on the other side, Phyllis. These have just a tiny touch of dark red on some of their center petals. We do have our own white peonies we are anxiously awaiting to bloom. Maybe one day soon I’ll have a picture of those soon.

I cannot take credit for these – they are from our neighbor Margaret’s yard. Aren’t they a sight?