The next in my series of the Most Beautiful Flower that grew in my gardens is a pink tree peony. I had never grown tree peonies before moving to North Carolina.
This one came from the garden center with only “pink tree peony”on the label, and I was delighted to discover such a beautiful plant.
I like the gradation in color from light to dark and the textures of its petals.
I hope you will enjoy MBF#3.
There are so many beautiful flowers in our gardens that is impossible to find just one that is the MOST beautiful. So, I will continue to share a few nominees over the next few weeks. Perhaps, one of them might be your favorite.
This week’s beautiful flower is bearded iris “Clarence.”
I love the way the purple fades into the white, or is the white fading into the purple? The special nature of Clarence is that it is a rebloomer. It blooms in the spring, of course, but then it comes back in late summer and August. I have even had it blooming in early December. Another nice feature is that it multiplies rapidly. I can divide and spread it around the garden…and share it with friends.
I am happy to be back after a long absence from the blogoshpere. Having retired from gardening a few years ago and moving into a retirement community, I have to rely on memories of my gardens. Each week, I hope to share with you “The Most Beautiful Flower” in gardens of the past. Please enjoy.
The color and texture of daylily Obsidian is like royal velvet. I want to rub my finger on it…gently. It was a gift from a daylily gardener in Northern Virginia. What a gracious lady.
I am saddened to post that My Arranger died on Friday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and cancer. Hospice was there at the end to keep her comfortable. Sixty-three years and eight months of marriage, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. She loved flower arranging, tennis, volunteering, her church, and her family and friends.
But life goes on. Cherry trees nearby are showing the first hint of pink. I’ve seen my first daffodil. My great-granddaughter Charlotte is starting to crawl.
Life goes on.
What a great challenge this week from Nancy Merrill Photography: FOOD.
I love food. Probably a little too much, but at my age, who cares? I have removed from my files countless pictures of full holiday tables before the kids made their way through every platter, turkeys about to be carved, roasts dripping with juices, and the grandkids licking ice cream dripping down a waffle cone. Alas, those photos are gone somewhere out there in the blogosphere.
Here’s a photo for me with my favorite fruit: peaches.
And here’s a photo for our squirrel colony’s favoite food: acorns.
Please visit Nancy at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/11/16/a-photo-a-week-challenge-food/ to see her contribution this week.
This week’s photo challenge from Nancy Merrill is Gateways. I love to see creative entryways to gardens or within gardens. Here a few favorites taken over the years.
Barnsley House, the garden of the late Rosemary Very in Gloucestershire, England, is one of the most beautiful I have visited. This photo of her “Laburnum Walk” is iconic, an inviting gateway into her garden.
Another invitation to investigate a garden is this arbor covered with weigela in bloom. I placed the pot to pull your eyes through this gateway in my former garden in Chapel Hill. I still miss it.
Please visit Nancy at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/11/09/a-photo-a-week-gateways/ to see her offering this week.
Nancy Merrill Photography has given us an unusal challenge this week: share a photo of an INJURY. I had a selfie of my face all puffed up from an eye infection, but I have decided that would not be very interesting to anybody other than myself (Alas, the judgement that can be attributed to most selfies).
In my garden critters file, I found this photo of a Writing Spider (Argiope aurantia) preparing to have lunch on a captured and injured swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes). It may seem harsh to us butterfly lovers, but the food chain is the food chain.
Please visit Nancy at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/a-photo-a-week-challenge-injuries-none-serious-please/ to see her offering this week and that of others who contribute to her weekly meme.
Nancy Merrill Photography’s challenge this week is Vanishing Point.
I captured a young man cutting the grass on a gargantuan front lawn of a local stately home. The cut lines give a wonderful perspective of a vanishing point.
Please visit Nancy at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/a-photo-a-week-challenge-vanishing-point-2/ to see her offering this week.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Gates and Fences
This week’s challenge from Nancy Merrill Photography is “Gates and Fences.”
Gates and fences can be important features in a garden. I would like to share a gate and a fence in gardens in the Charlotte area that I found to be quite lovely.
This gate is a welcoming invitation to enter a peaceful inner garden.
In this garden, the owner added arched windows to the fence. They don’t allow a view through the fence to the garden next door. Rather, the windows are fitted with mirrors. The reflections give the sensation that the garden extends past the fence. It is one of the most creative fences I have seen.
Please visit Nance at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/09/14/a-photo-a-week-challenge-gates-and-fences/ to her take on the challenge.
Nancy Merrill’s weekly challenge is to share photos involving multiple shapes.
This photo of an heirloom peony is a good example of multiple shapes coming together to make a breathtakingly lovely flower. The peony was a gift from my Aunt Martha, who gave me a number of peonies that started in my family in my grandmother’s garden. Its name has long been forgotten.
There are three basic shapes that make up the blossom: large, almost flat petals on the edge, small ruffles around the center, which consists of a crinkly mass of smaller petals. And, of course, the next bud yet to open is a solid round ball.
I hope you will forgive the wee ant tasting some of the nectar on the peony bud.
Please visit Nancy at https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2021/09/07/a-photo-a-week-challenge-multiple-shapes/ to see her offering this week.
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A Walk in the Garden 