20/03/2025
A little nature story of hope and resilience for the Equinox.
Going into my garden today I was reminded I have a new plant to check on, for a few weeks ago I had a surprising little visitor.
2years back my partner and I dug up some of our lawn to create a flower border. We bought and planted a lot of young plants, that would spread and grow over the years. It looked very bare at first, but we were hopeful, this was only the beginning.
Amongst these was a peony bulb, which I planted pre-spring, hoping for some summer shoots. Although I knew it wouldn't be big or pretty for a while, I was optimistic. My mum had peonies in my childhood garden, and they seemed hardy.
However the first summer came and went with no signs of growth, despite the other plants growing nicely. Again I knew it wasn't going to flower, perhaps this meant it wasn't going to shoot this year either, so I adjusted my expectations and waited.
One year later, the second summer came, and there it was! A shoot! It grew very quickly, but as it did it spread, rapidly, and it didn't look how I remembered. I sadly realised this was not the peony I had planted, it was a w**d. I pulled out the w**d and finally gave up, I'd just save up for the next spring and buy an established plant, I obviously couldn't care for this bulb.
But then as I say a few weeks ago, there she was. Growing tall and strong and deep red.
I found the following information on Peonies: "Peonies establish a vigorous root system the first two years after planting. Once planted it'll take about three years for an abundant show of flowers, but a peony can easily live as long as 100 years."
You see Peonies ARE hardy, but only because they take the time to grow their roots, anchor in, and build themselves a strong foundation. They will emerge only when they've attended to and trust in their own stability. New beginnings are often like this, we can't always see or feel that they are going well, and hope can be hard. But new beginnings aren't about looking good, they're about being stronger, ready for the path ahead.
