Peony Promise (098/365)

 
"...peonies, their favorite flower, are saluted by the Chinese, according to their form or color, by these delicious names, each an entire poem and an entire novel:  The Young Girl Who Offers Her Breasts, or: The Water That Sleeps Beneath the Moon, or: The Sunlight in the Forest, or: The First Desire of the Reclining Virgin, or: My Gown Is No Longer All White Because in Tearing It the Son of Heaven Left a Little Rosy Stain; or, even better, this one: I Possessed My Lover in the Garden."

Octave Mirbeau, Torture Garden, "The Garden," Chapter 5

TIME: 1:25 PM
PLACE:  Front yard flowerbed
SUBJECT: Peony shoots

These peonies were given to me by my mother from plants she grew in her backyard.  Mom's peony plants were given to her from her mother's plants.  Originally, the above plants were located by the back porch of our first home.  My mom planted the tuberous roots for me soon after DramaQueen was born in late October of 1997.  When we moved, eight years ago, I dug up the peonies and replanted them here.  I am so very glad I did.  I cannot wait for them to bloom so I can cut bouquets and fill the house with their fragrance.  That smell immediately transports me back to my childhood, when Mom would do the exact same thing each spring.