For as long as I can remember, my family has grown pink peonies.  My great grandmother had a substantial stand of them at her old home place and it has been a tradition that a few toes go with family members as we move about so we can propagate the blooms and share something in common no matter where we are.  My grandparents had them planted at their place and my parents have them also.

To me, peonies are about as lovely a flower as they make…secondly only to daffodil I expect.  Both flowers have the most wonderful fragrances of anything in the world too.  I could honest-to-goodness start every day for the rest of my life smelling daffodils and peonies and be a happy man.

We planted our peonies a few years ago when we bought our home in WV.  We waited and waited and nothing really showed the first year or two.  In fact, I sort of forgot that they were in the ground until last year when familiar shoots started up through the ground.  I do not think a single bloom grew but I knew the leaves and was hopeful.

This year, the flowers came on strong and we have buds waiting to open!  I took a few pictures of the ants that always go with peony blooms which I thought was pretty cool.  I always heard that without the ants, peonies would not bloom.  Apparently that is an old wives’ tale.  Ants just like the sweet nectar the blooms produce.  The blooms will be just fine without the ants though.

So, ants and aphids are welcome…peonies now grow in my yard as they have in my family for at least 4 generations!