Peony indulgence!

Last weekend was a perfect opportunity to visit a local Peony Farm. Next to my favorites of fluffy pink roses is the fluffy pink peony. And I never miss a photo opportunity of beautiful flowers. Sorry, I did not take the time to write down the name of each variety, but you can visit Adelmans Peony website http://peonyparadise.com/ to see more.

Enjoy! (there's a lot of pictures, I couldn't help myself, there were too many pretties to resist)

The buzz cloud in my cottage garden....

Yes, my cottage garden is starting to awake on this wonderful May Day! I call this tree my "buzz cloud" as it reminds me of a fluffy cloud of blossoms and the honey bees love the sweetness of this Lollipop Crab apple tree.

 Lollipop crabapple is a slow-growing, dwarf version of an ornamental crabapple tree, named because of its pleasant, rounded shape. Mature height of Lollipop crabapple is about 8 feet, with an equal spread. I think mine reached beyond maturity with all the organic compost it gets in the cottage garden. It will get a good pruning after the blooms fade.

 Leaves appear first then white blooms appear on the tree in springtime, followed by small, golden crabapples in late summer. In autumn, the foliage takes on a yellowish tint. Lollipop crabapple isn't difficult to maintain and is suitable for growing in US Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 4 and above.

 Honey Bees love it in the spring and the birds love the tiny fall apples

 I took some time to step inside the tree, the bees didn't seem to mind that I was taking in the intoxicating scent too. 

And since we have had some really nice warm weather the peonies were ripe for the picking~a perfect May Day bouquet!