Two on Tuesday

Back to the garden for this weeks 'two':


1. Another peony in a couple of stages of opening. I think I like the bud-partially-open phase of most flowers better than when they're fully open.









2. I was tempted to use one of my many shots of flowers blooming, but I really love this foliage. The flowers make for more stunning photos, but M & I agree that we like to keep the focus of our garden on the foliage and texture, rather than just the more short-lived flowers. This fallopia in the foreground is reliably stunning and easy every year. It ends up being 4-5' tall, with gorgeous speckled leaves and rosy pink stems. In the background is our golden catalpa, which M keeps pruned down to below 10', so we get to enjoy the huge golden leaves close up at face level every year.