peonies and my little helper

I love our backyard in the Spring.  It's when our two peony plants bloom amongst all of the weeds that sneakily sprout up in the flower beds.  They are so beautiful you hardly notice the miserable, little weeds.  Note I said hardly.  The process of pulling weeds is never-ending.

The blooms are huge, and stunning.

Multiple blooms and buds dominate the spectacular plant.

Here are a few random peony fun facts, ya know, for fun:  

The peony is named after Paeon (also spelled Paean), a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.  Asclepius became jealous of his pupil; Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower.

Mischievous nymphs were said to hid in the petals of the peony, giving it the meaning of shame or bashfulness in the language of flowers.

While the peony takes several years to re-establish itself when moved, it blooms annually for decades once it has done so. 

Peonies tend to attract ants to the flower buds.  This is due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the flower buds, and is not required for the plants' own pollination or other growth.

Peonies range in color from white to yellow to coral to pink to red to maroon.

(I'd love a yellow one!)

Even Ellie enjoys lounging peony-side.

Callan loves to be outside.

Those lovely little scratches on his face are from the other day when he decided to leap into a flower bed, head first, full of lava rock.

He always has something in hand.
He's a very busy little boy.

He watches us work in the yard, and imitates us.

Now if he could just really pull some of those weeds, that'd be super-fantastic.

Such a boy.

Head to toe.