So hot in fact that I took off my farm trousers half way through the day and dug out my short farm skirts. It was delicious to free my legs again.
Daisy made no comment, other than politely asking for sunglasses to protect her delicate eyes from the blinding white of my pale legs.
The shadowy areas of each field were once more populated by panting sheep.
And the barn flock sought the shade of the big mulberry trees.
Charlotte smothered herself in suntan lotion.
And the Big Dog retired to his favourite cool sheltered corner in amongst the drying firewood under the cherry trees.
And the peony began to bloom.
Good morning. The old people tell me that the pioneer women brought the peonies across in the wagons. This root is so hardy that they would wrap a plant in damp fabric and it would survive for months in the back of a wagon. What they carried in the wagons was only what was absolutely essential so I have always smiled at these beautiful scented cherished plants being carefully carried across this vast landscape by those courageous women. The plants are very hardy and once established will last for years and years, decades. I have seen quite a few planted in the very old graveyards around here. In the old days the woman’s relatives would bury her and then plant her favourite peony from her own garden beside her. Every single one I have is from someones garden and can be traced back through the generations.
Good morning. When I was a young woman my aunt gave me a root of rhubarb that her grandfather had brought out to New Zealand from Yugoslavia, I grew his rhubarb in every single house I lived in (shifted along with all my roses) until I left the country. If I were to smuggle something out it would have been that plant. The rhubarb I have now comes from the garden of an old lady who died in a town close by. I heard that the new owners were going to get rid of the garden and did not mind if I came in and took what I wanted. I dug for days, as you can imagine, bringing home buckets of treasure. So I don’t know the story of the rhubarb I have now. But it is delicious. And I often think of the old lady I never knew who left it for me.
Have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “Hot right to the bones”
So right that plants should be treated as precious objects. How lucky you are to have the good weather. Summer still has not arrived here – must have lost its way.
I’ve never heard that story about how the peonies arrived on the farms. Totally believable– as a bit of beauty is as essential as food + supplies + livestock. Lovely photo.
I do hope that heat is on the way here – part of it, at least! We’re back in the low 40’s this morning 😦
My mother has irises and peonies from my great-grandmother’s garden…I’d love to try to bring them here, but the climate is so different, I’m not sure they’d grow.
Have a great day, C!
I grow both irises and peonies here, maybe you could try just one plant of each, I think they would be OK.. c
Pretty rooster.
Yes, it’s a beautiful rooster! What breed is it Celi?
barn breed. of dubious origins!! morning rosemary and diane.. c
my peonies are rain forcasters. the moment my peonies bloom, it rains! mine are blooming today and it is raining. i love how animals find the most comfortable places outside. teddy knows each cool place in the garden and when it get too hot, she comes inside and lays in front of her fan! my grandfather always made rhubarb jam and would sit it in a bowl to cool on the counter. he always placed a bit dab of butter in the middle. then he would make toast and butter it with really good butter and spoon the rhubarb on it. i still do the same thing, though his rhubarb plant did not get passed down to me. each spring, when i make miine, i return right back to that old kitchen table and can see him making the toast as if it was yesterday.
I love the idea of rhubarb on toast, i will try this tomorrow, just the scent of it cooling in the window must be a wonderful memory.. and now i have dark clouds, maybe my peonies are like yours! hope so, we always need rain.. c
It snowed in Dartmoor this morning. The wind is vicious outside, and I can only hope that the bees braved the rain all week to pollenate my apple trees, which were so heavy with blossom that you could hardly see the branches. I keep my fingers crossed. How are your new bees?
I am going to have to go and investigate cleopatra’s hive again, there is less and less activity around that hive. Nefertiti’s hive is booming so if Cleo has gone then i shall combine them..But there are storms rushing past us today (not dropping rain though) and bees get mad when the barometer is dropping so another day perhaps! Are you cooking something delicious in your new kitchen misky?… c
There’s a proposed moratorium on insecticides in Sussex this summer, which is hoped to help our bee population. Things are getting quite drastic now. Bees dying off quickly from parasitic infestation. Does the US have the same problem?
We made Thai soup (yum), baked stuffed Portobello mushrooms with an interesting discussion on to-peel-mushrooms-or-not, and a fun questionnaire on what’s in your cupboard! Come see me at http://miskcooks.com 😀
Hot? It hasn’t reached double figures (centigrade) for days. Please can I come and show you my white legs?
I’ve always been told that you can’t move paeonies as they don’t like their roots disturbed. I left some gorgeous ones at various houses for that readon, and now don’t have any. Your story tells me otherwise, so the moment we get a buyer for the house (years hence, probably) I am going out to buy a paeony for wherever we go to. Love, ViV x
Morn’in Celi
Lovely peony! Just curious…how old is Old Dog? He looks very wise and restful in his shady corner. Have a fabulous day !
The Big Old dog, his name is really Cooder but i can;t say it in american, so when I call him I just call SUE! um, well no-oone is absolutely sure but I think he is about 15 or 16.. c
peonies are so beautiful. they are my mums favorite flowers, my sister and i send her some for mothers day, they are without a story though… that is a very nice story with the peonies and the wagons =) have a nice day!
What a difference a week makes! Pleased you are warming up at last. 🙂 Laura
What a great share.. and nice to see summer has arrived..
I will never view peonies in the same way again. I’d never really thought about their origin on the prairie. I have only a small fern peony, a slip from my cousin. I love the stories that are connected to plants, like yours with the rhubarb.
Nice work, saving he rhubarb! Those animals look happy 😉
I always love reading about how resourceful you are!
we have 4 peonie bushes that we transplanted from the middle of the garden to an enclosed bit so that they would not get damaged by dogs etc. These peonies were here long before us and come up year after year . They weather the snow and the frost and yet they are so delicate. A few short weeks and they have gone for another year.
As for rhubarb…mine came from UK in daughter’s suitcase..and we have had much trouble in getting it to grow. It is weedy and thin..we have tried various [places in the garden but it does not like any of them. My aunt grew hers near to the cesspit and it grew and grew and grew….mine is near the cesspit and does nothing spectacular…reckon I am doing something wrong!
How long has your rhubarb been in the ground? maybe it is still gathering itself, I do absolutely nothing special to mine.. I hope it bucks up soon.. c
about 5 years it has been there..we have moved it twice to try to make it happy…but its a weedy spindly specimen..not good think rhubarb sticks , not red, I do not know what to try next
about 5 years it has been there..we have moved it twice to try to make it happy…but its a weedy spindly specimen..not good think rhubarb sticks , not red, I do not know what to try next