Every spring, I eagerly, no, greedily! count the buds on the peony. I cluck over them like a mother hen, and make sure the ants are on the buds doing their job.
I’m not sure what they’re job is, but I believe it’s a symbiotic relationship where the ant gets the nectar, and the bud gets it’s outer shell released and let’s the flower spring free.
This peony is an old-fashioned with none of those super strong stems, so as happens around spring time, the flowers weigh down the stems and give me an excuse to cut them. Wouldn’t want them dragging their pristine petals in the mud!
I photograph them fresh, old and withered. Their scent is sweet from first opening until the very end. I only have them for a few days, but they stay safe in my memory all year.
What flower is your epitomy of spring?
