A short, sweet life

/ May 28, 2015
Nature's knocking.

Nature’s knocking.

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?

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74 thoughts on “A short, sweet life”

  1. Pingback: peony | could do worse

  2. 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.

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    • 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. 😉

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      • 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

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  3. 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 –

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  4. 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!

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  5. Pingback: Desert kabloom in photos and how life is cooler when we let friends influence us for the better. | Family Love Does More

  7. 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.

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  9. 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!

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  13. 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. 🙂

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  15. 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.

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  16. 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

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  24. 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.

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  25. 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.

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  28. 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!

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      • 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.

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      • 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. 🙂

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  31. 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.

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