Parisians love flowers. Small, outdoor flower markets bloom throughout the city. Parisians pick up fresh flowers on the way to and from work, or on their way to meet a friend. Guests arrive for dinner with beautiful bouquets for their hosts. Flowers are not a luxury, they are part of what enriches the everyday lives of the souls of Paris.
Perhaps the most beautiful, and fragrant of all of the flowers found in the Paris markets, is the peony. Peonies growing wild in their native Asian, Southern European or Western North American soil, or in your own garden, will live for up to one hundred years. Once cut, and placed in a vase, the blossoms will last for only ten days.
A photograph of a peony will also last more than one hundred years! They photograph beautifully, their layers of ruffled petals capturing light, and casting shadows. All flowers have a personality, and peonies are complex: romantic in soft light, dramatic in full sun.
This weekend, I returned from the Toronto Flower Market with two stems of white peonies, and Paris on my mind.
Peonies from Quince Flowers, Toronto
Paris tea towel from The Paper Boy, Toronto
Photos copyright of Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.
Perhaps the most beautiful, and fragrant of all of the flowers found in the Paris markets, is the peony. Peonies growing wild in their native Asian, Southern European or Western North American soil, or in your own garden, will live for up to one hundred years. Once cut, and placed in a vase, the blossoms will last for only ten days.
A photograph of a peony will also last more than one hundred years! They photograph beautifully, their layers of ruffled petals capturing light, and casting shadows. All flowers have a personality, and peonies are complex: romantic in soft light, dramatic in full sun.
This weekend, I returned from the Toronto Flower Market with two stems of white peonies, and Paris on my mind.
Peonies from Quince Flowers, Toronto
Paris tea towel from The Paper Boy, Toronto
Photos copyright of Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.
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