the peony

a few weeks back, i was reading erin's post about certain trends that have seriously blown up this year, and one of those trends was the peony; pink peonies specifically. basically, erin was talking about how she can't scroll through her instagram without seeing a picture of the beautiful flower, and personally, i'm really not surprised.

i mean, the peony is a beautiful flower. it is tranquil and feminine, and there is no wonder why people of all walks of life would love them; they smell so fresh and clean. yes, they have seem to blow up this year, maybe due to the fact that they bloom in may and june, and have a rather short shelf life (as do almost all real flowers), and it is wedding season after all, but maybe there is another reason? maybe it's because bloggers may be, in a sense, trendsetters?

hell, there is no maybe about it... bloggers run this mutha. ha!

no, but really now. if you follow me on insta, you may have noticed the overload of peony pictures... and i'm here today to explain myself (not that i should have to or anything).

you see, yes, i do follow erin, and i always "like" her peony pictures. one day, i was out in my yard, and i realized a rather pretty "look a-like peony", but it was in red. so, i looked it up. it turned out to be a black panther tree peony. 

i also noticed a bunch of plants next to it. when i asked my grandmother about them, she told me that my great-grandmother had had a love for peonies, and they were planted in two different gardens. 

for the next week, and as i am writing this, the white, light pink, ivory, deep reddish-purple, and fushia peonies continued to bloom. i seriously couldn't believe my eyes. the gardens outside of my house, which was filled with indiana soil, had actually grown pink peonies to rival the ones on the streets of manhattan. holy f'in crap.

they are beautiful flowers, and like i said earlier- smell amazing, but the reason that there may be an overload is due to the fact of my yard having a serious lack of my favorite flower- the lily. and the second reason, may be the fact that peonies don't smell like funerals, like lilies do.

basically- i love the look of lilies (i have one on my left shoulder), but i hate their smell, so if my hubby ever buys me flowers, he will only get one or two, not a whole bouquet. but, i'm getting off topic.

you see, it may seem as if, i am jumping on the bandwagon and loving peonies, just because my neighbor's sister's friend does, and quite simply, this isn't the case.

i love peonies because they are one of the things that i have left of my great-grandmother. you see, she is the one who planted both gardens of peonies, and unfortunately, she passed away in 2008. i miss her everyday, and hope that she is looking over me and my lil guy.

you see, loving peonies and picking them to display on my porch and what not, makes me feel closer to her in a way.