Diary of My Country Life-April 18th, 2026

The original source of this blog: https://www.lotusandmichael.com/blogs/diary-of-my-country-life

04/18/2026 Saturday 53-72F Partly Cloudy

The cherry blossoms and magnolia flowers are gone; the daffodils are fading; azaleas are at their flower peak… Who will be next? Peonies.

Every April and May, my garden looks its best because of the peonies. I have planted six cultivars of herbaceous peony, four itoh peonies, and four tree peonies (including the two which I just planted at the end of this March). It feels like, all of a sudden, my peonies wakened from their winter dormancy. Due to the several heavy snows and the long cold winter, they were nourished well and kept a lot of energy, perhaps that’s why they scrambled to shoot out their red eyes, then sprouted. The flower buds are forming now, except for tree peonies, who are earlier bloomers and whose buds are swelling every day.

Last year I made tea from the peony petals; this year, other than the tea, I plan to do more with them: When my cherished Yellow Yao tree peony blooms (which will be next week), I will paint a portrait about it. I planted it in the Fall of 2023, bareroot; last year, I was thrilled to find several little buds on it. But the plant was still weak so eventually those buds dried out. While this year, starting from March when I noticed its buds again, I watched it attentively. It has four swelling buds now, at least two of them are in the opening process. This morning I bent to smell the largest one, and for the first time I could smell its fragrance. 

I am ready, and eager to paint it. Since 2023 I listed it in the first group of my flower embroideries and printed it on the back of my business card, I have been looking forward to seeing this legendary cultivar bloom in my own garden. To celebrate its bloom, I have invited people to come for tea and to watch the flowers. The formal invitations should be sent out these two days, but the problem is that the flowers won’t last long, seven to ten days the most depending on the weather, while I have several groups of people whom I intend to invite and who most likely can only come on the weekends, or precisely, next weekend only if they are available.

Yes, my itoh and herbaceous peonies will bloom later to stretch the whole flowering season, and their blossoms are also pretty; however, they are not my Yellow Yao.

A clever arrangement is needed urgently for my guests 😥. 

Once the flowers are about to fade, I will use the petals to make toner. It will be my first try, but since the loofah water was so good for the skin, a 100% natural peony toner should be lovely as well. The ingredients are three: Glass-bottled spring water, Yellow Yao petals, and lemon juice. Once I finish my peony toner, it will time to harvest my loofah water (though I haven’t sowed my loofah seeds yet) so all year round I can use my home-made toners.

So far among all my flowers, my Song Mei orchid and this Yellow Yao tree peony seem to have brought or will bring me tremendous joys. They two have different styles, one is like a humble gentleman, the other one is like a glamourous lady. Song Mei is ranked by Chinese as the number one cultivar among orchid family, while Yellow Yao is the number one as well among tree peonies. There are reasons why people regard them so high, and I fully agree.

I consider the most important reason is: The real beauty, no matter whether it’s art, or a building, or a lady, should be pleasant yet humble; even after having known it for quite a period of time you still like to be with it instead of running away or feeling bored/tired. It’s harmless, unassuming, simple and clean.

My April tryst camellia is loaded with flowers. After having noticed some bottom ones drooping almost to the ground, yesterday I purchased a set of floral pin frogs (often used in Japanese Ikebana). Camellia flowers have very short stems, nearly impossible for me to put them into my vase if I don’t cut off the whole branch. Hopefully these floral frogs can help me display them better in my house rather than letting them fade in the dirt. This is another thing new for me to try.

Endless learning.