Peonies come and go so quickly in their season, they could easily be missed. Peonies' elegant, sophisticated, luscious bowing heads should never be missed, though.

They are so perfect with just a mist of dew on them, but oh how a hard rain can beat those bowing blooms down.

My sweet neighbor gifted me these peonies last summer out of her yard and they were glorious. I love the fact that they are grown in abundance in hot houses and are readily available for weddings in the summer.

They make the most beautiful altar flowers. In fact, at Thanksgiving I walked into Trader Joes and Whole Foods and they had bucket after bucket of these beauties. Pushing against my tradition of fall flowers, we had pink peonies on our Thanksgiving tablesetting. I did not hear one objection.