Normally, I’m not much of a flower person. I like to receive them, of course, but tending and gardening are far from my strengths.
I was fortunate enough to inherit several patches of peonies when my husband and I bought our house. The opening of the peonies is the official start of my summer. Yes, June 1 was yesterday, but on Friday when my first peonies showed their full lovely blooms? That’s the launch of my season. I think they are my favorite flower—and not just because they require no effort from me save my appreciation.
Roses seem like the opposite of peonies. I have a neighbor who tends her roses, and there sure seems to be a lot of tending involved. Don’t get me wrong, I deeply appreciate her roses. They look and smell lovely. They seem worth the work. I’m just a gal who knows when a task is over her head.
My heroine Katrine from my current release THE LAWMAN’S OKLAHOMA SWEETHEART is a staunch optimist, and tries to grow roses in the Oklahoma soil. It’s tiny details like that which bring my characters alive in my head and hopefully in the imagination of my readers. Of course, that means the bad guy has to take Katrine’s roses away from her, but you’ll have to read the book to find out how, why, and how our hero restores that hope.
What’s your favorite flower? Is there one that “launches the season” for you?
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I love peonies too! Some are just as fragrant as roses, and the blooms are much larger. My mom has a huge garden of peonies that must be almost fifty years old. My attempts in the much poorer soil where I live haven't worked at all. My flower of choice here are day lilies, which require zero maintenance.
ReplyDeleteI love peonies but for me, when I see tulips, then I know things are starting to get a move on up here.
ReplyDeleteI love peonies, too. The big old house we rented when we first got married had peonies in the yard, and you're right they require no maintenance. They just bloom every spring. That yard also had lilacs. They are my favorite. Now I live in the hot south and haven't smelled a lilac in years. I miss them. Now that I live in the desert, I enjoy the few weeks in the spring when the cacti are in bloom. They have some amazing flowers.
ReplyDeleteThe poppy, California's state flower, will always say summer to me. I love seeing them blanketing the foothills here in the Sierra.
ReplyDeleteGlad to have such a bouquet of fellow peony fans! And Merilee, I live right next to a town with a lilac festival so we have plenty of them here.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite flower as well! I think of them as an old fashioned flowers. I guess because they are so proliferate in older neighborhoods. And they are often planted in cemeteries as well.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom had several beautiful peony bushes. (Are they bushes, plants?) Your picture reminded me of them. I like, and have, easy, too. Lilacs, daffodils, and wild rose bushes, which I do nothing with. Last year they bloomed past our first snow fall.
ReplyDeleteI'll be the oddball and claim honeysuckle as one of my favorite flowers. The fragrant, sweet scent is a lovely harbinger of the coming of summer.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Ky and these grow there everywhere. beautiful flowers and the bushes are long lasting. I hope to have some one day but the one I tried to start did not transplant good..gone.
ReplyDeleteglad to see so many of ya like this flower.
Paula O