With the advent of our first heat wave of the season, the last of my Peonies are being pushed to their end. I await their blooming all year and their bloom time always seems to go by much too quickly.
I cut them to bring in to set upon the diningroom table and on the side table next to me to enjoy while I work. Even though they drop their blown petals all at once with a big sigh, which then I have to clean up, I never mind. There is the gift of fragrance in those soft, fallen petals that clings to my hands.
Today’s arrangement mainly features Paeonia lactiflora and Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea). Pinwheels of wild, white Musk Mallow (Malva moschata alba) and Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus) fill around them. Spikes of purple Speedwell (Veronica incana) and green trimmings from Russian Sage (Salvia yangii) provide additional vertical accents.
I’m linking to Cathy’s meme In A Vase on Monday at Rambling in the Garden.
Eliza Waters 
Several enviable flowers here. Peonies dislike the climate here. Foxglove bloom here, but not as well as elsewhere. I do not even know what musk mallow is. The only one that does well here is the Russian sage.
Thank you, Tony. With an average of 45″ of rain per annum, what we can grow varies greatly from you in CA. But you do have those nice mild winters.
We can compensate for limited rainfall. Lack of chill is not so easily compensated for.
So true!
Oh, I so wish I could grow peonies! Beautiful. My daughter and I spent quite some time at the nursery today, loading up on flowering shrubs and vines for her new house, and meandering the 40 acres. I think she is going to become a hobbyist gardener.
Thank you, Cindy. Gardening is a wonderful (and addicting) hobby. A healthy choice! ❤
Oh my word that is beautiful – so soft and delicate!
Thank you, Carol!
Gorgeous combination.
Thank you, Sandra!
This is a lovely arrangement that ‘speaks’ to one of the beauty and scents of summer.
Thank you, Anne. June is a glorious time here in the garden. So many lovely flowers come into bloom then.
Such a lovely vase today Eliza. Well, your vases are always lovely anyway! Foxgloves are growing on me – I was never keen but have seen so many pretty shades this spring on various blogs and recently discovered some wild ones in the woods which was a magical sight, like a fairy world! The white Mallow flower looks so delicate. Do they also have fragrance?
Thank you, Cathy! Foxgloves do well here and I love seeing them growing wild at the wood edges. I love the other species probably more, D. lutea, grandiflora and ferruginea are perennial and longer lived.
Musk mallow has a light, spicy scent similar to musk roses– how it got its name perhaps. A vigorous self-sower!
Gorgeous arrangement!
Thank you, Sheree!
What a stunning arrangement, Eliza. The Peonies look beautiful beside the Foxgloves. I have grown Foxgloves with some success, but our subtropical climate is too warm for Peonies. I haven’t heard of Musk Mallow, so will have to investigate if they like my climate. I recently planted a few Russian Sage though. I so love gentle, ‘old-fashioned’ flowers. 🙂
Thank you, Joanne, so nice to see your comment here. Russian Sage is a tough plant that will probably do well for you, I imagine.
I hope all is well ‘down under!’
We are all fine here, but staying close to home. Luckily for me, I love being at home (especially in the garden!) anyway. So I’m very content right now. I hope all is well with you also. 🙂
Yes, thanks. Same here, staying home and gardening lots. In most ways, my life isn’t much different. I’m grateful that I live in the country and not a city where confinement would be a lot harder.
Too many flowers are shortlived, but we can capture their beauty forever…
That delicate pink peony is truly beautiful…
Thank you very much, Anita, and for reblogging, too. ❤
This week’s composition is so exquisite! Love your descriptive terms, Eliza. The peonies and their floral influence in fragrance and form sound so fulfilling. That ‘gift of fragrance in the soft, fallen petals ….’ says so much!
Thank you kindly, Liz! Peonies are one of nature’s great gifts, IMO. 🙂
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie ~ Authors.
That’s a beauty.
Thank you, Judy!
Gorgeous ‘very tamed’ ! The purple Foxglove is beautiful. I love to see Bumbles crawl up those flowers.
🙂 Haha, yes, a bit more ‘control’ this week! Thanks, Alice!
Beautiful, Eliza ❤
Thank you, Donna!
What a very fresh garden arrangement. I am really enjoying your flowers, as I also cannot grow most of them.
Thank you, I’m glad to provide a bit of northern summer garden delights. 🙂
Beautiful flower arrangements Eliza!
Thank you, Reed!
What a beautiful soft arrangement. Very apt for June, that time of weddings.
Thank you, Laurie. I feel badly for brides during this pandemic. It must be doubly stressful!
I’m sure it is. Sigh.
Lovely arrangement! I keep forgetting that Foxgloves are biennial and they don’t seem to self seed here. I started a bunch this winter – they’re planted now in semi shade – just hope they’ll survive the current drought.
Thank you, Chris! I deadhead most of mine, leaving only one or two to produce seed to scatter around. Interestingly, most come back the next year, I lose very few. Maybe they think their job isn’t done??
Ha! Could be. Whereas mine say ‘enough already!’
Gorgeous. I love every one of your flower selections.
Thank you, Susie!
That’s gorgeous! I’d love to place that arrangement on my mantle.
Thank you for the lovely compliment, Loree!
Beautiful floral arrangement!
Thank you very much!
That must be quite a tall vase, Eliza, with that foxglove – I did look at my foxgloves but decided I didn’t have anything tall enough to go with them, but your veronica works well with yours, setting off the peony well. I had just a single peony bloom here, and didn’t even briefly contemplate cutting it!
Thank you, Cathy. I guess your foxgloves must be very tall! I cut for vases their side shoots which aren’t as lofty. Overall, this is about 18″ (45 cm), so not that big.
The peonies I have here are over 30 years old, so the patches are big with plenty of blooms for cutting – and sharing! 🙂
What a beautiful combination of colour and form. Thanks also for highlighting World Rain Forest Day.
Thank you, Carol. Reports from Brazil say that landowners are taking advantage of the pandemic to burn more of the forest while law enforcement is under lockdown… the greed breaks my heart.
The news out of Brazil isn’t good for lots of reasons. The pace of destruction of the rainforest is heartbreaking. I wonder if the pandemic will lead to a widespread reduction in eating meat …
I hope so – we have to take BIG steps to correct this massive, earth-threatening problem that worsens by the day.
We do. Yet in many ways earth-threatening problems seem to have been marginalised even more by the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Your arrangement is stunning as always. And thank you also for spreading rainforest message
Thank you, Karina. CC won’t go away without our concerted effort worldwide. We must continue to bang that drum.
I love the combination of the peonies with the foxglove! I still hold out hope that one day my Itoh peony will decide the time has come to bloom.
Thank you, Kris. I hope you get your wish!
I always look forward to your vases and this one–with the peonies and foxglove–would look really good on my dining table!
Too bad you didn’t live closer, I’d make you a bouquet! 🙂
I would love that.
So pretty!
Thank you, Fi!
Such a pretty collection of flowers beautifully arranged and described.
As for the meat yep I do not miss it at all.
Thank you very much, Dorris.
Such an elegant arrangement and so lovely. I can almost pick up its sweet scent!
Thank you, Belinda!
SO lovely, Eliza! 😍 I love your arrangements so much! You’re so fortunate to have so many gorgeous blooms in your gardens! 🥰
Many thanks, Julie! 🙂
Absolutely stunning, Eliza!!
Thank you! 🙂
Gorgeous. and sad that they are here briefly, but worth the wait 🙂
Thank you, Caryl. So true!
Stunning arrangement, peonies and foxgloves are two favorites!🙂
Thank you, they are lovely flowers. I deadheaded all the peonies today, no more until next year, alas.
What nice combination!
Thank you, Maria!
Stunning! I would love to have just a portion of your garden. Ground squirrels and chipmunks have eaten my small flower garden. The liquid fence does not work. Last year I used some small cups of ammonia, placed and set in the ground but I still cannot buy ammonia due to COVID. We resorted to catching the buggers and relocating them … 3 big squirrels, 7, no make that 8 chipmunks/ground squirrels.
Sounds like you need to plant only things they don’t like (just like I have to pick slug and deer resistant plants). Allium (onion/garlic family), daffodils, herbs (lavender, hyssop, salvia), geranium and thistles might be a good start. It’s too heartbreaking to keep trying to outwit these little buggers with sprays, etc. 🙂
Thanks so much for the advice and list of plants. I’m saving this advice!
My pleasure… 🙂
I feel cool just looking at these photographs! Such beauty! Love love love peonies. 💜
Thank you, Bela! I agree, Peonies are pretty special.