31 Days of Flowers, Final Edition

And, it's peonies, of course. Some are much battered by the storms over the last couple of days, but still beautiful.

'Angel Cheeks', looking very much worse for the wear.

The buds are holding up better - can't wait to see these tomorrow. The second one below is 'Festiva Maxima', the top one may be, too. The last one is 'Felix Crouse'.

Sad to see this project end - it's been fun watching the spring blossoms come and go.

31 Days of Flowers: Dame's Rocket

From this morning at Indigo Lake in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Another pretty plant that turns out to be an invasive. It's native to Europe and Asia and crowds out native wildflowers here. So sad, because it's such sure sign of summer.

And did you know that you have to pry yourself out of bed at 4 am to catch a late May sunrise? Yup. Ain't enough coffee...

31 Days of Flowers: Hardy Geraniums

Hardy geraniums in Kentucky. We were at a really lovely horse farm with one of my photography groups and this was taken toward the end of the morning shoot. Little bubbles of pink and purple dancing against the green.

These were right across the farm lane from the owners' residence, surrounding a little overlook for the lake. Most elegant farm I've ever seen - a dream of what a horse farm should be.

31 Days of Flowers: Wild Berry

Went to Tallmadge Meadows this morning to shoot. Just had one lens, a 150 - 600, which actually worked out great.

This is a raspberry or blackberry in the morning light:

A song sparrow:

And a last year's teasel, nicely backlit:

This lens drops out the backgrounds really nicely.

31 Days of Flowers: Never Enough Peonies

Last night's thunderstorm featured lots of thunder and some excellent lightning. It also left the peonies sparkling with raindrops and drooping to the earth.

This was the first to open - it's on top of a small hill in full sun. 'Felix Crousse' is starting to bloom and 'Festiva Maxima' is still tightly budded - both are plants inherited from my mother and grandmother.

Here's a good website for peony information: http://www.theplantexpert.com/peonies/index.html.

31 Days of Flowers: Viburnum

Vibrant are pretty robust shrubs - they grow wild here in Ohio. However, my backyard has been viburnum-challenged since I first planted them 10 years ago. Deer nibbled them nearly to the ground, and bit off every single blossom for years; more recently, it's been viburnum beetles ravaging the foliage.

With coyotes moving in, the deer population has dwindled a bit (also because of carnage on the busy main road in this part of town), and because the weird weather is messing with the beetles, we have an abundance of bloom this year.

Here's just one:

A couple of the bushes are almost 15' tall and are tangled in the evergreens, making a nice contrast between the creamy white of the viburnum umbels and the dark green of the spruces.

31 Days of Flowers: Wine & Roses

I can't be trusted alone in the garden center. Plants for which I have no space mysteriously show up in the car, then get jammed in between magenta and puffy pink peonies and apricot-flushed daylilies. My lovely weigela 'Wine & Roses' is smushed up against the deck and deserves much better. Yet it is covered with blooms and has been for a couple of weeks.

Maybe I can assuage my guilt with a little bit a pruning and some compost...