Friday, November 4, 2011

Flower rescue


The other day while playing with the dogs across the street at Haliburton Farm I noticed that there were new buds on the tree peony in front of the house.  This plant has been blooming all summer but it seemed to have begun again even as the frost came on.  I felt it was my duty to rescue these buds and bring them into my kitchen to see what they might do.  They seemed to have been affected by the cold as they didn't open up quite the way they usually do.


The petals stayed crumpled and stuck together as in the photo above.  There are actually six petals but each is stuck to the one behind it.  Of course it's the centre of the peony that's really stunning.  I love the details of the pistil surrounded by all the waving stamens. I was hoping that they'd all open up to give me a big beautiful bouquet but most of them had already suffered from frost.

This back view shows what was happening.  The inner parts is ready to see the world  but the petals are still stuck together in front.  This one did finally open but within hours the  stamens began dropping, followed quickly by the petals.  But what a beautiful sight to see its life force pushing through!



I'm glad I rescued these flowers even if it was only for a short burst of beauty.


3 comments:

  1. Oh, that back view is stunning! So much visual interest there. I love that you rescued them from the cold.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am happy that they had a few hours to bloom. The back view was indeed wonderful and if you cropped it just right I wonder how many people could figure out what it was. That said I am very interested in the first photo, kind of a Dutch Master look about it !

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
  3. My darling sister -- I think what you have discovered is not a peony, but a Romneya Coulteri, also known as a Poached Egg Flower. They are magnificent fall-flowering eccentrics, and the buds continue to emerge late into the Fall. You've happily found some which have soaked up the warmth from our mild October.
    A day without a blog from you is like a cloudy, rainy November day. Jan

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments.