A cold front moved in yesterday. The temperature dropped 20 degrees in two hours. Despite the external relief, it is becoming clear that my brain has not recovered from being parboiled for two weeks. You know the usual rants: Typepad ate my post, I can't knit worth a damn, I've ripped the same row three times, and the only thing left is to clean the shower.
Maybe that's why I garden. Despite the deer, the voles, and the poorly timed precipitation (either too much or too little), there is always something to see. Here is the big picture:
This is Paeonia lactiflora 'Dawn Pink' from Songsparrow Farms.
She always manages to take my breath away in mid-June.
This is a closer look at a more utilitarian aspect of peony culture:
Bed and breakfast. He slept through the entire photo shoot, including me running into the house to get the camera.
There will be knitting later.
That is, without a doubt, the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Posted by: Cassie | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 09:38 AM
OMG, please don't let some bird or snake get him. He is too precious! And your camera! You must tell me what you have...I'm so sick of not being able to capture things like this!
Posted by: Norma | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 09:42 AM
J'adore tes paeonias!
Ditto on Norma's camera question.
Posted by: julia fc | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 10:32 AM
Beautiful flowers! (Adorable frog! :) )
Posted by: Andrea | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 10:44 AM
Gorgeous. Strange weather indeed -- it went from swimming to light sweater weather in a blink!
Posted by: Kathy | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 10:51 AM
Outstanding picture of the critter. I just got a picture of the bunny that is eating my pansies.
Posted by: claudia | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 11:10 AM
What a treat! Peonies that are not only gorgeous but house a tiny little creature. Perfect.
Posted by: Margene | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 11:22 AM
That little froglet is just amazing. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Posted by: Janice in GA | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 11:43 AM
Absolutely gorgeous, even the froggie!
Posted by: Regina | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 01:16 PM
That's like a fairytale - a frog in a petal cup, where the princess will find him when she comes to collect the morning dew for a magic potion to save her brother from the wicked queen. Or something.
Posted by: Juno | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 04:06 PM
that is a fabulous picture - he does look like a prince, waiting to be kissed! (if he's cute, can you send him my way?) I do hope that he stays safe and sound and you see him again this summer. (any idea how he got up to the flower?)
Posted by: Kristen | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 05:07 PM
That poor little froggie is freezing his legs off. :)
Thanks for the beautiful flower pics. I just love them!
Posted by: sandy | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 05:23 PM
Once again, you take my breath away with the pictures! Fantastic!! I too want to know what kind of camera you have. But I suspect it's the eye behind it that gets these great shots. That frog (or is it a toad? I get confused) is quite possibly one of the cutest things I've ever seen.
Posted by: Andrea | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 06:54 PM
Etherknitter, quite apart from your undoubtedly superior name and your reputation for combing clarifed buttah... I love you. Little froggie!(Is a gray treefrog?) Also excellent taste is slightly recherche perennials....... I am already planting poppies and peonies, and though I don't think they will ever be as good (or as carefully identified) as yours, you give me something fine to enjoy while reaching for.
And you're getting to be as bad as Sara Lamb for offering me places to spend money. Yum.
Posted by: Laura J | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 10:29 PM
That is a gorjuss photo of the frog! I'd love to have a big copy for my flower picture collection? Argh I'm glad a superior gardener like you also has found the weather troubling. When it's 90 out and 80% hunidity somehow the garden just doesn't seem that important :( Last weekend we did the gardening between 6 and 8 am. And then my poor new plants are either being roast or drowned. Fortunately my transplanting (moving from beds which fingers crossed will be no more soon) last Sunday was timed nicely with the rain and cool weather.
Posted by: Ingrid | Thursday, June 16, 2005 at 07:45 AM