In the top left corner of the front yard of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, the oh-so-fast cycle of our proud peony has moved past middle age.
Soft pink petals, only days from their manic fuchsia, whisper with the gentle morning breeze that stirs some still colorful brethren a high.
My dear wife Karen has a word for this late spring demise.
“Kabloom,” she describes, succinctly.
Is it worth it, this sadly short period of pungent scent and startling color stolen from our senses with less than a week to enjoy it?
Why, yes, I’d say. I do believe it is.
What’s your favorite shortie? How long does it last? What’s better for you, the anticipation or the reality?
Pingback: peony | could do worse
I too think Kabloom is brilliant! Although it’s a bush and not technically a flower, I’ve always loved forsythias and think they are just lovely. Especially when they’re allowed to grow up naturally/wild instead of being pruned into box shapes and the like. They don’t last very long at all, ten days maybe, and they’re such a happy yellow color that I love to see them in the Spring. Like the peony, the forsythia blooms only once a season, which is sort of sad.
LikeLike
Our forsythia up front didn’t bloom very much at all this year, Wendy. And it’s spreading all over one half of the hourglass shaped garden. But I don’t dare trim it into any geometric shape. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you prune it at all? If you pruned it anytime during the year (except immediately after it bloomed last Spring), that would have kept it from blooming this year. Forsythias only bloom on at least year old wood. Plus you guys had a hell of a winter this past season…forsythias don’t do well at all in Springs following a rough winter. That’s likely the cause. But you probably know that already. 😀 Sorry, the fanatical gardener coming out in me. LOL
LikeLike
karen has the perfect word for this. i always feel a bit of a tug after a beautiful display, when a plant has given it’s all and is ready to rest once more –
LikeLike
That’s a great way to put it, Beth. A bit of a tug, indeed. Thank you for you love of nature and words. 🙂
LikeLike
We have many kinds of Kablooms here in the desert! Tell Karen that word is perfect for night bloomers here in the desert! A cactus blossom will bloom and then… Kabloom! Gone!
Love(d) your peony!
LikeLike
That’s so opposite for us east coasters to get our minds around, Nancy. Night kabloomers! How fun. Yes, our peony gave us sweet scent this year, my friend. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Desert kabloom in photos and how life is cooler when we let friends influence us for the better. | Family Love Does More
Ah, my dear friend Angie McFly, spots my dear wife Karen at the peak of her game! Thanks so much, Angie, for your Arizona love. ❤
LikeLike
lovely !! 🙂 happy Weekend friend, Blessings
LikeLike
You loving my flower photos is a great day for me, Leyla! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of my fave flowers that goes KABLOOM (and I also love that word) is a rose bush outside the building next door to us. Budding one day, full bloom the next, and gone the third day. If I don’t get there at just the right time I lose my moment for this year’s photograph. And this year, I lost my moment. It was too hot to go outside, so I lost out to the weather and the heat. Huge sigh. There’s always next year though.
LikeLike
Sorry to hear you lost out on your rose Kabloom, sis Angie. Ouch!
LikeLike
Aww, that’s so sad. 😦 Will they come back any more this year?
LikeLike
No, Rachel, the peony is one and done. 😦
LikeLike
This is why we have to enjoy each moment as it comes. I have a fiery hibiscus in a pot in the front yard. It blooms one flower at a time in the spring and summer. Each flower lasts a couple of days. Every time I walk past it I say, next time I’ll take a photo. Of course I never do. Well, next time!
LikeLike
Next time I want to see it, too, Ros! Pretty please.
LikeLike
KABLOOM!!!
I like that word! Kudos to Karen on that one. I love peonies.
LikeLike
Karen coined a great one there, Kate. Peonies are pretty darn special, I agree. 🙂
LikeLike
This is so beautiful and colorful.
LikeLike
Thanks, Maria!
LikeLike
Kabloom! Oh yes, I’ll use this so thank Karen for me 😀 Kabloom happens super fast here 😦
LikeLike
Desert kabloom must be defeaning in its beauty, Angie McFly. Please photograph and share?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will! Thanks, Mark 😀
LikeLike
That peony is off-the-hook awesome! I feel this way about my daffodils and most of my other bulbs. Their time is so fast, and I love them so much. Garden shiz makes me happy. 🙂
LikeLike
Garden shiz gives us a glow, I agree, Jenny. Yay to your bulb luminesance. 🙂
LikeLike
What a great name for such a beautiful offering, Mark. Karen knows how to title/name a beauty. Gorgeous. I have always wished tulips lasted longer.
LikeLike
Thank you, Aud. Yes, tulips go quick, my dear. ❤
LikeLike
definitly worth it! I love day lillies – a flower a day. They do give plenty of flowers but I think i always made an effort to look at each one.
LikeLike
Our day lillies are green and in big bunches this year, Rachel, but not a bloom yet. Thanks for reminding me that I can look forward to them. 🙂
LikeLike
They are one of the plants I need to get for the new garden. Our peony is in bud but is far behind the beaty in your garden.
LikeLike
But to flower to kabloom in a week, Rachel. You shall see, my friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
kabloom is brilliant! And with most things, the anticipation is greater than the actual event because during the actual event, I start thinking about the end of said event. Silly me. ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
Karen came up with a perfect word, I agree, Diana!
And if it’s silly you, then it’s silly a whole lot of us for feeling the same way sometimes when the big event arrives.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for including me in a group, I feel way less silly now. 🙂
LikeLike
Kabloom indeed! And just the moment before reading this I had read Jim McKeever’s blog on the shortness of life. there’s clearly something in the air . . . https://irishinvestigations.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/why-the-sense-of-urgency-the-numbers-dont-lie/
LikeLike
Wow. Serendipity between Jim and I, unplanned, Roy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kabloom! Ha! That’s a good one. 🙂 I think any amount of beauty is worth it, whether it last for weeks or for only a moment. That goes for all things in life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think you’re right about beauty in general, Me Who. That’ a great philosophy to share about life, right there, my friend. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is definitely worth it even for that short enjoyment of that glorious scent. 😀
LikeLike
They are a favorite flower no matter how short, Tess. Yes, indeed. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sigh. ❤
LikeLike
Farewell lovely petals of pink. We await your heady blooms next spring! 😀 Ode to a Peony ❤
LikeLike
Thank you for this ode to our peony, Colleen. 🙂 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Thanks Mark. 🙂
LikeLike
Mine haven’t started blooming yet! Soon mine will KABLOOM!
LikeLike
I’m glad you still have the kabloom to come, Susie!
LikeLike
Unfortunately we all go kabloom sooner or later—-hoping for much later. Flower wise, my gladiolus don’t last very long.
LikeLike
Your kabloom perspective is a lifeline for me today, Dora. Long may we run!
LikeLike
Well this is one reason I never like to buy flowers for the house but since the peonies will bloom again next season, it makes it worthwhile.
LikeLike
They do go fast on the plant, Marissa, and faster inside. 😦 But worth it for the perennial aspect, agreed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Peonies are like Christmas–you wait all year, and before you blink there’s nothing left but quickly diminishing recollections and a sad sprawl of colorful detritus.
LikeLike
Great analogy left gift-wrapped for me today, Chuck. Thank you for this one, my friend.
LikeLike
Unfortunately, they have such a short life span. I usually enjoy anticipation a little more than reality, but it does depend on what we’re discussing.
LikeLike
Yes, George, there is a sliding scale on such things. Good point.
LikeLike
I love that picture. It is very pretty.
LikeLike
Thank you Amy, I appreciate your kind words.
LikeLike
Kabloom. And I am sure your lovely Peonies thought it was worth it as well MBM and DWK. 🙂
LikeLike
They loved as as well, I agree, MBC. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kabloom indeed — such a great word!
Our peonies are still fluffy. I’m wondering how much sun exposure yours get. Must be more than mine, which really get indirect (southern) exposure.
They would be worth it even if they only lasted an hour! So sweet smelling and pretty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ours get much direct sun, Joey. Yes, they are worth it, every second. The kabloom is deafening. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is there no end to the charm of that word? lol, you really must tell Karen she’s kinda a big deal on the internet today 😛
LikeLike
I will indeed relay that she’s coined a buzz word today, Joey. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Joey and Mark, I don’t know if anybody else has mentioned this BUT if you are faced with tons of peonies all blooming at once, you can delay their bloom by cutting and placing in the fridge.That slows everything right down for up to two weeks, some say even three. It does make finding the ketchup a bit more tricky, but there’s a cost for everything. You can Google the various methods but everybody I know who has tried it swears by it. I don’t get enough peonies all at once to bother.
LikeLike
Thanks for spreading the word, Barbara, for all interested peony lovers. We have but that one powerful plant kablooming, so we’re going to stay peony free in our freezer, too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful word! Better a short bloom to fill the senses, than no bloom at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, Lisa, agreed that a little better than nothing in the case of startling beauty like kabloom. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the word…well done, Karen!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll make sure she feels the love, Ermine! Thank you.
LikeLike
Kabloom. What an excellent word. Very clever lady in deed. To me Oriental Poppies are almost painful to watch. Their delicate petals, are so bright they almost hurt your eyes. Then at the first brisk wind they’re gone. Of course it’s worth it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Benson. Kabloom is an awesome word. And I have to find some Oriental Poppies to discover the delicate beauty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kabloom! What a great word from Karen. Yes, it’s all worth it, Mark. And my favorite shortie is …. me!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are a great shortie, Ann. Kabloom in BloggyVille, every dang day!
LikeLiked by 1 person