Garden Colour

Day 226: Around Memorial Day, my flower beds are almost at their best. While other plants are yet to come, the blood-red peonies my father loved are in abundant bloom, as yet unspoiled by rain. The fence line sports a bold showing of Siberian iris, and the Barren Wasteland hosts a broad orange splash of Oriental poppies with a dot of blue cornflowers off to one side. The alliums are new this year, and so far, only the dark purple ones have opened, but their wands stand two to three feet high in the front bed, each capped with a three-inch diameter knob of flowers like chives on steroids. Bright colours, the brighter the better, have always appealed to me. Pastels have their place, but I prefer flamboyancy in my garden.