Yesterday, Mr. Prose and I went to a nearby state park and I took photos of the many peonies growing there. Peonies, you ask? I know, a bit unusual for a state park.  Evidently, a wealthy man who was also an avid gardener established a world-famous peony garden with thousands of plants. After his widow’s death in 1946, their children had the peonies moved to a farm which was later incorporated into the present state park. Cool, huh?

Unfortunately, most of the peonies are in a big field complete with weeds, and are mowed under every fall. I don’t know why they don’t offer the peonies for sale, but I’m happy to photograph them.

Here’s one of the lavender peonies growing amongst the weeds:

I kind of like the way the unruly weeds “frame” the beautiful flower.

I call this one “Red Velvet” because of its lovely texture. The green photographed so well–I had partly cloudy skies to help me out.

This one looks kind of like a clam shell. I wish I knew the names, but none were labeled and I no longer have my East Coast garden books.

See the ant or spider on the left side? There were plenty of those crawling around. I now have a bug bite on my left arm too. All for the cause of photography.

Here’s how the “peony field” looks:

More peonies tomorrow….