Peonies, The Life Cycle

I've talked before about my love of peonies, and how it has much to do with the child's middle name being Peony (actually, which love came first is a chicken-and-egg conversation for another day). And of course every blogger girl and instagram girl in the universe is flipping out these past few weeks about the start of the always-too-brief and always-amazing peony season. But nevertheless I must show you these photos I took over the course of several days, as the peonies we bought bloomed from tight-closed spheres, to full-blown blossoms, to gone-by but still-lovely faded beauties.