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| 'Buckeye Belle' |
....at least not when spring has arrived, a spring for which you've waited impatiently over the past 2.5 eons and change. Trilobites have gone extinct since I first anticipated spring this year. Then I was gone a mere 5 days and the plant friends that I missed are almost too numerous to count. No, I at least didn't miss the luscious garnet-to-die-for
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Buckeye Belle’ pictured at the upper left, but it was a very close thing.
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| 'Prairie Moon' |
Recall please, that I only left on the morning of May 9th, but on that morning, fickle peony 'Prairie Moon' was yet to bloom at all. Five large buds were on the low-growing plant, just thinking about opening. Yet, when I returned on May 13th, four out of the five flowers had opened in the 90ºF days and finished, with only one decrepit, ant-invaded, spider-guarded, ragged bloom to mark its passing. I've waited three years for this immature plant to finally bloom with some mature size, and it was gone before I enjoyed it.
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| 'Scarlett O'Hara' |
And then there is 'Scarlett O'Hara', one of my most showy and favorite peonies. No blooms when I left, but I returned to a fully-bloomed plant with all but three blooms faded from gaudy red-salmon into blush pink or white. This peony normally takes a couple of weeks to open fully and fade. What happened? Spring was delayed by fickle fate and then time and the garden rushed headlong into summer, that's what happened.
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| 'Buckeye Belle' 05/13/2018 |
'Buckeye Belle' herself was a close one. On the 13th, when I came home, she had three large blooms open, with several enormous buds in reserve. Yesterday evening, the 14th, they had all opened, a soul-quickening sight to behold. Today, these petals are falling, peak over, fading into another season.
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| 'Buckeye Belle' 05/14/2018 |
A gardener should never go away during growing season. In temperate climates the first two weeks of January might be safe, in a really cold year. Might be safe. But otherwise, forget it. The other 50 weeks of the year there are things to be done, plants to check on, and beauty to behold.
I've not been a fan of the quickest transition from a lingering Winter essentially to Summer. It's not treating my plants well. We did finally get some rain this week, though. The moisture is nice but heavy rain always wreaks havoc on the peonies that are in bloom!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I always go out of town for about 10 days in June and do miss some things in their peak. I pretty much missed all the nigella in bloom last year and some lilies.
Yes, the weather has been so crazy. We gardeners are a bit crazy too I suppose, having to deal with as huge a factor as weather in our hobby/obsession. What do stamp, tea cup, plate and coin collectors have to go through, huh?! Excuse me while I calm down. I am glad that Belle came through for you.
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