It’s been a while since I’ve had time to pick flowers and make a bouquet. I’ve been quite occupied with my sweet puppy, Molly. In early May, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that required heart surgery. The 30-day post op recovery period has been all time consuming trying to keep her calm and quiet. My days consist of thinking “where is Molly, and what is she doing?” Other than when she is in her crate, it is nonstop surveillance of her every move. Needless to say, very little gardening is getting done.
But this morning when I saw my peonies doing a “face plant” in the dirt, I knew I would enjoy them more in a vase. Usually it’s the rain that makes them plop over. But it’s been unseasonably hot for May and we’ve had no rain in days.
So, without further discussion, here is the queen of summer blooms. A picture is worth a thousand words.
I hope sweet Molly is improving with each passing day. She looks very comfortable in her photo at the top of your post.
The peonies are beautiful and your rescue of them was clearly well-timed. I have some peonies in a vase at the moment too but mine were store-bought cut flowers. I can barely imagine having them growing in my garden, although I’ve had a non-blooming Itoh peony there for years – hope springs eternal!
Molly is doing well, which is the hard part of keeping her quiet. She had a device put into her heart through her femoral artery to close off a duct that should have closed at birth. If she is too active, the device could dislodge and that would kill her. So it is vital that she stay quiet and keeping a puppy quiet is no small task, even when she is on two sedatives. It is a full time job, and I look worse from her surgery than she does. She never looked or acted sick. If not for her heart murmur, it would have gone undetected.
The peonies must have been desperately thirsty, because since cutting them, they haven’t dropped a petal. And that is a rare thing. I am enjoying them and every breathtaking view I can get of them. It is a long year until they come into bloom again.
Cindy, your Peony images are gorgeous!!! You have always had such an eye for beauty. I’m glad to see your girl, Molly, is doing well, but what a stressful thing to deal with. Very expensive too! I hope you’re enjoying June without too much smoke. We have had a lot of rain lately. In fact it’s been rather depressing at times. But today was pretty darn nice to have lunch up in Maine!
I just love your blog!!!
Thank you Sharon!!! It is so nice to hear from you. again!!! Have you considered starting up your blog again? If you do, I’ll be right there. Yours was always one of my favorites.
Very expensive indeed. But I really had no choice but to proceed with Molly’s surgery. Without it, she would have needed expensive meds and ultrasounds of her heart, and still died with congestive heart failure within a year or two. With the surgery, she should live a normal life.
I sure wish we could have some of your rain. It has not rained here in 3 weeks and everything is struggling. We’ve also had no humidity, which is really abnormal. It is nice of course not to deal with humidity, but then you realize, it’s the humidity that helps generate the rain. Without it, we might as well be living in Arizona, and frankly, I’ll take the humidity and the lush green that comes with it. I’m not a desert type of gardener. Hoping the forecast is right that we’ll get some this weekend. It’s too early to be this dry.