Tag Archives: flowers

Peonies

Memories, ,

As much as I love the deeply fragrant smell of lilacs in the spring, I think I prefer the lighter, less heady smell of peonies.

Peonies from my garden

Peonies smell like warm, late-spring afternoons on Heine Avenue where several plants grew on the south-facing side of the house. That smell is wafting through my dining room right now bringing me memories of my childhood at 240 Heine.

The smell foretold the end of the school year and the long, carefree warm months of summer just around the corner. Soon there’d be fireflies. Soon we’d be barefoot all day.

I only have one peony plant that produces flowers. Usually I only get two or maybe three flowers, but this year I got five — likely because the neighbor cut down a tree that was casting shade where the peonies grew. I hope to plant more of these, perhaps in front of something that we’ll plant for privacy instead of the weeds that grow there now.

Take time to smell the lilacs

The Great Outdoors,

I have an app or two on my phone and tablet that sends me “memories” of what I tweeted, or posted on Facebook or took photos of that day in history, back to 6 or 7 years ago. For the past few days I have been seeing photos of lilacs that I took and either tweeted about or posted about on Facebook. This morning I panicked, worrying that I’d missed the lilacs this year. That I’d been so preoccupied with a bunch of other things that the lilacs had come and gone and I’d not had the chance to smell them this year.

My lilacs are in the front yard and one would think that I’d notice if they were in bloom or not, what with my car usually being parked 10 feet away from them. But I’d not gone outside much lately and when I did, didn’t think to check the lilacs. I did check them about three weeks or so ago and noticed there were a few tiny buds, so I knew I was going to get a few blooms this year, but not many.

I was happy to see that there were some lilacs on the tree when I checked from the front window of the house but it was hard to tell if they were in bloom or past their prime. This afternoon, after my dentist appointment I got a close look at them and saw that a few of the small flowers were in full bloom, but most were still tightly closed. I’d not missed them after all. I took a few big sniffs, smiled and went on with my day. For the next week or so I plan to visit my lilac bush several times a day and deeply inhale one of my all-time favorite scents.

More lilac

I also took a moment to snap some shots of the other flowers in our yard. Spring is definitely the nicest season on our property.

Forsythia
columbine
Azaleas. Not my favorite flower.

Sunny Sunday

Life,

Sunday ended up being a beautiful day. I planted all the flowers and herbs that I bought yesterday, and transplanted last year’s mums to around the lamp post. It looks so much nicer now.

Andrew slept all day. Not sure what’s up with that.

Andrew’s wrestling banquet was a pleasant surprise. I’m not big on sports – even when Andrew is involved, but the wrestling folks are really nice – down to earth (unlike some soccer folks I’ve met). Perhaps it is because the majority of them live up county – and not in Bethesda.