The tree peonies are in bloom. There are 22 buds on the larger one this year – still some time before it grows to 100 blooms and is fit for the Emperor’s gardens. The specimen below is “Yoshino Gawa” – my other tree peony is anonymous. I bought it at Marden’s, our local salvage operation for $2.00. The box said it would be yellow, and it’s a deep pink, which is why it ended up in salvage I suppose.
The fragrance is wonderful. I have a still-life set up in the hoop house of three of these in a vase and I can’t keep the hummingbird and bee-moths out of there.
- Sumer is icumen in,
- Lhude sing cuccu!
- Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
- And springþ þe wde nu,
- Sing cuccu!
- Awe bleteþ after lomb,
- Lhouþ after calue cu.
- Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
- Murie sing cuccu!
- Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
- Ne swik þu nauer nu.
- Pes:
- Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
- Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!
I thought I heard a stag fartin’