Grandma's Peonies

I'm so glad that I have some of Grandma's peonies. Years ago, I raced to Pennsylvania when she had a heart "episode" that was serious enough to put her in the hospital. None of us thought she would recover. My heart was full of sorrow. I stayed at her house all by myself and I really and truly looked at everything as if I'd never see any of Grandma's things in the same way ever again.

Out in the yard, her peonies were in full bloom and the aroma was intoxicating. I grabbed a shovel from the little room attached to the old garage and dug up a few roots from the white peony and then some from the red. I filled in the holes nicely and found an old empty box for the roots, dampened them, and covered them with wet newspaper to keep them safe till I could get them in the ground in my own yard in South Carolina. I knew I might lose Grandma, and I wanted something of hers that would somehow keep her with me through the years.

Grandma had a strong constitution and she did recover, and didn't mind at all that she'd "shared" some of her peonies with me. I brought the peony roots home and babied them through the first few years of shock at being moved to our much warmer climate, and now they bloom in a joyful aromatic mass every spring. Nobody lives forever, and I lost Grandma after a few years to a battle she couldn't win. Of course I think of her every day and I wish she could stand next to me to see her peonies doing so well in my yard this spring.

I've talked to many people who have cherished flowers and shrubs that they've saved from their grandma's yard. We're a bunch of softies....