Peonies

Big pink tree peony

The tree peonies are wonderful. They flower earlier than other peonies and  in windy or wet weather only last a few days, so the rain got at them early this year and I have to make the most of them while they are there.  But they are so gorgeous and huge. Yesterday they were  a bit beaten up because it was a rainy day but today they have recovered. 

But, unlike all the Mediterranean flowers I've been trying to grow for the last thirty years, they bloom wonderfully and hardly need any looking after. I have one red and one pink in different parts of the garden and the bees like them too. I was watching a big queen bee this morning who kept coming back to the red peony again and again. 

The other things I really love are the little species tulips that come up again year after year. I have one called 'Little Beauty' and another with buds, which I can't remember the name of. Just a few brighten up the bed no end. 

Species tulip 'Little Beauty'

Finally, the fox family which uses my garden as its day place, partly because I won't let it dig a den in the garden but also because it's found a good place to survey the world from the top of my shed.