In November of 1990 when we moved to this 24-acre valley and hills farm with its farmhouse built in 1920, I couldn't wait for spring to come where I could see what old heirloom plants would bloom. There weren't many things, to my disappointment, but there were daffodils scattered around, thankfully not in military rows, and then the wisteria bloomed. Later there were day lilies, big double ones, and wild roses and honeysuckle.
And there was one peony, sitting all by its lonesome in the front lawn, that bloomed in late May. It was the Festiva Maxima peony and has a fragrance that fills the yard. And fills the room when cut for a vase.
They don't last long. Soon they'll be gone.
I'm grateful that the busy farmwife planted this peony in her front yard. I think she would approve of the beautiful Kousa dogwood with its luxurious white flower bracts that R.H. planted when we bought Valley View. She would be glad it grows near her peony.
I look out at the dogwood and the peony through the bedroom window, through the same old wavy glass panes that she looked through, and I say goodnight until another spring.
