Patience and Peonies

We planted a couple of Peony bulbs in our garden about 4 years ago.  One has gotten quite a bit larger, still not really 2 feet tall yet, but has bushed out a bit and is actually going to bloom this year!  

The other, well, it's still pretty puny.  It drives my husband nuts.  He wants to yank them out and just buy bushes that are already established and replace them.  I am taking the slow road approach myself.  I know when they bloom it will make me happy and excited that finally, after years of waiting, something we've grown from almost nothing is going to eventually flourish.  

The funny thing?  It's been so long, I can't remember what I planted.  Pink doubles? Yellow singles?  No idea.  I think there were two different kinds, but honestly, no clue.  Time will tell.  The larger of the two has several flower buds that will pop open in a couple of more weeks, a small thing to look forward to.

The first year we had them in, our little one was helping to weed. She proudly brought her daddy the little peony stalk saying she got the biggest weed of all.  Those are the things that make me want to wait, let the garden grow as it should and not hurry to replace the slower growing things. That's a memory we'll always have. My garden is full of such memories.  Many years from now, those peony bushes will be huge and covered with flowers and it won't have mattered that they took years to really take off, it won't matter at all.

At the house I grew up in and my Gramma's house as well, there were always rows of peony bushes. It seemed like everyone had them. We had little round vases especially for those blooms.  You'd cut one off, close to the flower and let it float in the water. The smell is amazing and always reminds me of home.

For a garden, a peony bush of any size or variety is a nice addition.  As they grow and expand, they can fill in bald spots or you can even make a near hedge-row out of them. The fragrance is incredible when they are in bloom.  They do get droopy and can look a little messy when you get a heavy rain just as all the blooms open up, but gardens aren't supposed to be immaculate, they are supposed to be messy.