June 22, 2026
Good morning!
It’s Monday. Now that astronomical summer has arrived, the peonies have decided to unclench their guard petals and reveal this year’s crop of big, blousy, decadent, fragrant, painterly flowers.
I know you’re not supposed to pick favorites, but I can’t lie—peonies have to be my favorite flowers in the garden. In fact, every year I threaten to dig up the front yard and fill it with more plants. As it is, we have just three herbaceous peonies that bloom successively in the front garden over several weeks.
And then?
They go away, so that something else may come.
“It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Onwards,
Clara
And also my favorite. At our house we ended up having a border across the front of the yard plus more bushes wherever I could plant them. Now that we have moved to a condo I am so grateful to the former owner for planting several peonies across our front flower bed.
Yes! Those adjectives are so exactly right! Clara, you are a genius!