Paeonia 3

Here are a few more images of peonies from the American Peony Society convention held in Oregon May 27-29, 2011.  Can you pick out the "best in show"?  

Paeonia 2

With an uncertain internet connection, I am dividing the trip posts.

After visiting Brooks Gardens on Friday, we had the pleasure of touring Adelman Gardens.  Adelmans' has an enormous commercial cut peony operation as well as commercial production of peony plants, grass seed production, winter wheat and other crops that are rotated on the 100 acre +/- farm. 



I took a real fancy to this tree peony - "Leda" - on display at the Adelman retail barn.




A grandson of the Adelmans drove the tractor pulling the people movers during a late spring downpour.  In the south we would have called this rain a "gulley washer" or a "frog strangler". 



We next visited Piet Wierstra's Oregon Perennial Company, where a hail storm kept us in the cut peony production shed for a few minutes.  We then visited the greenhouses where peonies have several weeks head start on field grown flowers.  At Mr. Wierstra's house we found these four speckled brown and white eggs on the ground at the base of a peony, with mother squawking in alarm that we might molest the eggs.
 

Paeonia 1

The 2011 American Peony Society Convention is being held in Wilsonville, Oregon.  This is the first time the annual convention has been held on the west coast - or even west of the Rockies.  Weather has been as difficult in the Pacific Northwest as in many parts of the country - with bloom time delayed by about three weeks. 

A field trip to several commercial growers on Friday had tents, umbrellas, rubber boots, tractors and a ferocious hail storm.  Since many attendees came from across the country, the show went on.


John and I revisited the Peony of Unusual Size ("Haephestos") at Brooks Gardens. It is a tree peony with deep red dinner plate sized flowers on a woody plant about 5-6 feet tall. 



I did not notice on a previous trip that there are many Siberian Irises planted in the gardens with the peonies.  This time I noticed the irises and the huge field of Siberian Irises planted beyond the showy growing area for the peonies.  John is off in the distance beyond the irises.


From a closer point of view, this flowering fruit tree framed another large tree peony.

Where Men Win Glory

My latest book selection for the Bolgia Book Club was Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. 

Our book club is a little different than most.  It has been around for eight years.  It is equal parts men and women.  The books are selected by the host.  Our order of rotation and basic rules are contained in a pickle.  The pickle is passed when the next book is revealed at the end of the meeting.  There is always food and wine (we live in Napa, after all.)

I heard about a new local book club called the "Commando Book Club" - which does not allow food or beverages.  Our group would not long survive with such austerity.



The last book we read was The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason.   I thought the Pat Tillman story might be a fitting follow up to a rather fey attempt to re-write the story of Odysseus.  There was almost universal acclaim for this book, and it is a hard crowd to please.  Don't they look hard to please, critical and picky?  In this photo they are sipping a small glass of homemade limoncello.  Do I need to provide the recipe?  The big jar on the table is the new batch - about 35 days into the first stage prior to addition of the simple syrup.  The rose is our latest Leap of Faith bottling - 2010 Merlot Rose.

We had a wonderful conversation about war, kleos, what is a justified war, heroism, epic poetry, and of course the life of a remarkable man told by one of our great story tellers.

We also had spring lamb stew:



...and a luscious savory mushroom (and chanterelle) bread pudding.



We ended with two kinds of homemade cookies and lemon milk sherbet made two ways, one with Meyer lemons, and one with Felicia's sour lemons.  After the side by side tasting, sour lemons are better for lemon sherbet.  Meyer lemons are too sweet and lack the tang of the Eureka lemons.

Paeonia redux

The garden feels the fine effects of a bountiful winter of rain.  Almost two years ago we went to Oregon in late May to visit iris and peony farms. The post Paeonia shows some of the photos from that trip.  Now our own tree peony "Hephaestus " has set buds and bloomed for the first time in our yard.  This huge bud is just opening.



The colors of the irises, roses and peonies rival the jewel windows in the Rhine House at Beringer vineyards.  I just toured the site again on Friday in preparation for a conference later this summer.



I thought this looked more floral than the picture I snapped of the jumping trout.

At sunset an orange iris lit the west side of the yard.  This was my reward for Easter afternoon weed pulling.

garden walk

After a long wet winter, flowers and fruits are everywhere in the garden.  I took a long delayed look at the garden today and snapped a few pictures in advance of the next rain storm.

We have a special love for peonies - tree peonies, Itoh hybrids, and herbaceous peonies.  This is one of the tree peonies, just opened this week, and full of buds for weeks to come:



One of the other tree poenies, a blushing deep rose that hides its center:


The fruit trees - apples, cherries, fig, quince, avocado and citrus - are all blooming.  The pears and plums have already set fruit.

Tiny pears:


Morello cherries:


apple:


quince:


and first ever blooms on the avocado tree:


We do not know if the avocado will set fruit, but are eager to see what happens this year.  Sadly, the "Elephant Heart" plum flowered very early and did not get pollinated.  We see no fruit at all on the very vigorous tree planted two years ago. 

We have neglected the garden this winter, just as I have neglected this blog.  Music, politics, work, and a host of activities have kept us both distracted.  Spring renewal is happening anyway.