It's not easy being green

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. 

Comments

[Cassie]

That is, without a doubt, the cutest thing I've ever seen.

[Norma]

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!

[julia fc]

J'adore tes paeonias!

Ditto on Norma's camera question.

[Andrea]

Beautiful flowers! (Adorable frog! :) )

[Kathy]

Gorgeous. Strange weather indeed -- it went from swimming to light sweater weather in a blink!

[claudia]

Outstanding picture of the critter. I just got a picture of the bunny that is eating my pansies.

[Margene]

What a treat! Peonies that are not only gorgeous but house a tiny little creature. Perfect.

[Janice in GA]

That little froglet is just amazing. Thanks for sharing that with us.

[Regina]

Absolutely gorgeous, even the froggie!

[Juno]

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.

[Kristen]

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?)

[sandy]

That poor little froggie is freezing his legs off. :)
Thanks for the beautiful flower pics. I just love them!

[Andrea]

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.

[Laura J]

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.

[Ingrid]

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.