Peonies are a favorite plant for me. I’ve even dreamed of owning a Peony farm before… and I’m not alone as I see many garden bloggers with peony-centric posts this time of year!
What’s not to love when considering rich color, luscious blooms and easy care? Yes, the glorious blooms are short-lived (maybe sort of like favorite days or favorite life moments) but the plant has a long lifespan and a reputation of health (what we all aspire to, yes?).
Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’ is my only single-flowered variety and is the last to bloom in my garden. The creamy tones of yellow and pink that come together make it not only an eye-catcher but also unique.
So unique I haven’t found the perfect companion just yet…
I have located it near my bowl fountain which adds a pop of turquoise and a contrasting shape but I’m thinking about adding a Siberian Iris close by for another contrasting shape. Any suggestions of varieties that may go well?
That brings me to garden design…I have a longstanding love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes I am so pleased, and feel I am really figuring out how to design with plant life. Other times, I am sorely disappointed and ponder all season about how I am going to fix or change the design. I like to peruse magazines, Pinterest and other garden blogs for inspiration but a great way to get ideas for garden design is visiting other gardens, especially in the local area.
The Boise Garden Tour is coming up this June 22 and there will be several gardens I can visit for inspiration. (Yay!) For local readers, the Boise Garden Tour is in its 28th year and always offers a great selection of private gardens that can only be toured on this one special day. It is very enjoyable and the garden keepers are always present so you can visit with them and learn about their experience growing/gardening in the Boise valley. For more info go to: http://idahobotanicalgarden.org/events/private-garden-tours-2014/
igardendaily 
It is such a beautifully simple bloom. I agree, and think an iris would go well, or some lavender? 🙂
A friend grows ‘Bowl of Beauty’ with Blue delphiniums, that works quite well with the contrast in shape. Your bowl fountain is very lovely.
Absolutely beautiful! Love peony 🙂
Check out my Japanese Iris, these would go with your peony!
Michael
http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/japanese-iris-in-bloom/
Oh these are gorgeous! Mine are just about to burst open! I can’t wait. I love peonies!
Hi Andrea I thought of you today, we have visited another garden where the Peonies were underplanted with Alchemilla mollis, which looked really good together.
How nice of you to think of me! I’ll consider that idea. I have some Lady’s Mantle. 🙂
This is a gorgeous peony…I love the contrast. As gardeners we are rarely satisfied with our own gardens…at least in my humble opinion.
Thanks for stopping by Donna! Yes, I agree, many times other people’s creativity looks fresh to me. I wonder what I would think if I saw my own garden for the first time …as a visitor???
Your’s are beautiful!
Nice that you are enamored with the peony too. As you know, they bring such grace to the garden.
Gorgeous Andrea! I LOVE peonies. I think it is safe to say it’s in my top three….maybe even my tippity top favorite!
Oh me too Lou! Thanks for stopping by!
That is a real stunner of a peony.
Thank you Karen!
Hi Andrea – I really enjoyed this post because I have to admit that I walked away from this shrub for years and when we move (which should be in a couple of years and will hopefully be the last house – so I can drop some plants that I really love) well I may just add some Peonies.
But my husband’s grandmother had a white variety all around her house – and I guess they were transplanted from another house and they were more than a hundred years old! She offered me some of them when she sold the house – but it was such a non-graden time of my life and I passed on the offer. Also, I did not like the shrubs – and I saw them a couple years – but they were top heavy and although beautiful – they felt sloppy, lazy, and just not appealing to me at all. I may feel differently now that I have gardened for about seven years – and have fallen in love with more and more flowers – but I am not sure it is really the shrub for me…
but I did love your pink variety and the photos you took are exceptional – oh my! and fromt he full bloom to the buds to the side view to the cluster – that is one might fine flowering shrub.
and I really loved this:
“the glorious blooms are short-lived (maybe sort of like favorite days or favorite life moments)”
goodness – that was so well said –
and regarding the design – thanks for sharing that tidbit because it is nice to hear that the pros still have to reconfigure – ha! and with my haphazard design – well my biggest regret was not making it more “mower friendly” for the husband. ha – but I am going to try and change that later this year….
well I hope the garden show is awesome –
🙂 ❤
~y.
That is one gorgeous peony! Peony blooms look absolutely delicious to me. I think they may be the one flower that looks good enough to eat! Ha ha.
I like peonies and have three in my small garden. This year they lasted only one day before petals dropped in the downpour. It is sad such beauty of bloom can be short-lived. Some years they last, others not. I have Wargrave Pink geranium skirting mine, same bloom time but the geranium lasts a long time.
Lovely post. One more peony attribute that deserves mention is how long-lived they are. I have a neighbor who inherited some of his grandparents peonies! And whenever I’m envious of gardener friends in Southern California or Houston for their ability to grow bougainvillea outside, they often reply that they wish they could have peonies in their gardens. Zonal denial knows no bounds!
(http://raingardenartsblog.com/2013/06/30/zonal-denial-garden-thugs-and-me/)
I love peonies too. I grow them with roses, delphiniums, backed by a big frothy Crambe cordifolia. I love your Bowl of Beauty, it is stunning. Single flowers do have a grace and elegance which is missing in the double ones. I can never decide which peony I love best. Whichever one is in bloom at the moment I suppose. I am currently beguiled by Sarah Bernhardt.