Summer in my garden - peonies

Finally, I can write a post about peonies - all of them are blooming now, also the latest one - "Bowl of Beauty", which showed its first opened bloom 3 days ago. Last year - here - I have written down all the peonies I have, only 1 is missing which I bought later when the post was done. It's called "Mother's Choice" and will certainly be one of the highlights among my peonies once it will bloom well (may take some more years; this year it only shows leaves and no blossoms at all).
This summer is surely a summer of peonies - all of them have SO MANY blossoms. I guess the snowy winter really suited for them.
The first peony which opens in my garden, is "Rubra Plena", a deep red very early peony. This year, it showed its first blossoms in June 3:

The two next peonies in full blooms were "Festiva Maxima" and "Sorbet":

I got "Sorbet" accidently - I bought a deep red peony "Peter Brandt" from "Hansplant", but when it showed its blossoms a few years later, it was not "Peter Brandt", but "Sorbet". I was a bit disappointed, because I wanted a nice assortment of red and white (Festiva Maxima), but now I'm used to it. However, I am still thinking of have a red peony in this flower bed as well.

"Sorbet":

"Festiva Maxima":

I have another "Festiva Maxima" together with "Edulis Superba" (pink one, which you see in the following photo), "Karl Rosenfield" (it is later, so in this photo, it doesn't bloom yet) and "Sarah Bernhardt".

"Edulis Superba":

My peony "Boule de Neige" which is white, but has a yellow heart and some red stripes, is still small, but her blossoms are already quite lovely:

"Karl Rosenfield" is indeed a catchy peony - with its deep red colour and yellow heart, it looks just beautiful. Its blossoms are not very heavy, so it doesn't bend to the ground like many other peonies do.

"Karl Rosenfield":

It has both double and half-double blossoms, I do not know why it's so - whether the plant is still too young and the half-double blossoms are a "fault" or it is just it's speciality.

In this photo, there are 4 different peonies together, but from distance, it's hard to distinguish them, except "Karl Rosenfield" which is much darker than other 3.

"Sarah Bernhard" - so beautiful... I have 2 of them, but one doesn't show blossoms, yet.

The latest bloomer among peonies in my garden is "Bowl of beauty". I find it more special than others, because it's Japanese-blossom type peony and therefore different. I like it a lot:

I have 2 plants of them, the second one started to bloom just this year. I do not know what to think, because the blossoms are like that:

Doesn't look like "Bowl of Beauty" at all... but something with simple blossoms! However, you cannot trust the peony blossoms during the first summer. Sometimes, it shows the right ones only when it's bigger and stronger. So I won't make any conclusions, yet. If it remains like that also next summer, then obviously the seller sold me something else!

Peonies are so beautiful, but when it's hot, they bloom too short time...

Saying "Good Night"

Going to sleep gets funnier and funnier in our house. Especially to Fred. He needs to do at least 100 jokes in bed before he is tired enough to fall asleep. Yesterday, Erik went to the boys' room and found them like you see in this photo. For the first time, Fred and Ralf were up in their beds communicating with each other, saying "Good Night". It was so very sweet! :)

Healthy and Happy

The past weeks have been a lot of fun with the triplets. Most of the time, they have been very good boys. Ralf has had some problems from time to time - as there's nothing wrong with him when he is on my lap, then I have concluded, that he just wants more of his mom's cuddles. When the boys are healthy, they are usually happy and we have a lot of laughs together. I can even say that it's easy with them (if one can say "easy" at all when there are triplets at home). They get smarter and smarter and it's really fun to observe how they develop their skills.
Ralf has the strongest body. Soon, he will be up on his legs and I'm not surprised if he will be walking by age 1. Fred is the quickest. He goes anywhere with a second. He tries to get things from higher places, too, but has not developed his skills as further as Ralf has. Sten is a bit slower than others. He can crawl and can go whenever he wants, but he is in no hurry.
Now we are waiting for Sunday - we'll leave to Muhu island then. I'm very curious how they will like it there. And how do we manage to pack all our stuff + three babies and their pushchair to the car! But we're going to make it and we are going to enjoy 2 weeks vacation for sure. I have decided to get a vacation also from everything else - my phone is dead anyway, I won't open internet and Facebook - I just rest and charge my batteries!

Ralf: Fred:

Sten:

A wet day

Today, we had a wet day. First - it was finally raining (good for the nature and our garden!). Second - we took the boys for a swim to a sports centre. It is NOT easy to go a place like this with triplets. I had so many things with me! Everything times three. Towels, napkins, clothes... And when I plan something like this, I need to know who will come with me and the boys, because alone, I cannot go with 3 babies... So my mom and our nanny Pille (+ her 9-years-old daughter Matilde) joined us - for each baby, we had an adult. The car was full - no free seat! :)

It was the first time for the boys to be in a pool. Yes, they knew what water is - we bath them twice a week, but it has always been very shortly (as we have 3 babies to bath) and they have never really played or swam in water. So now it was time and they enjoyed it. At first, they looked very curious and maybe a little scared - so big pools and so much water - but they got used to it quickly and later looked like small fish with a smile on their faces. :)
Going out with triplets, you realize that there is always lack of something. In the dressing-room, there were only 2 places where to put babies when an adult puts her clothes on. So we couldn't put all three babies away to wait us. In the cafe, there was only 1 child chair! So our plan to feed the babies after the swim didn't work out, it was wiser to come home. I'm now thinking - can we ever go out to eat: are there anywhere 3 nursing chairs available?

Apart from those little details, we had a lovely day out and after having 2 successful days out of home (yesterday, we went to visit another triplets-family), I think we are ready for.... ZOO! :)

PS - Peonies and irises are blooming right now... beautiful! More photos soon.

Container gardening

Finally I'm here to post something about my garden... I can't believe I haven't done it before... and half June - the lovely summer month - has already past! It has been a very hot and a very dry start for the summer. This has resulted short time duration of blooming of flowers which should be bloom in June - for instance, the early peony (Rubra Plena) bloomed only for a week (with cooler weather, it would have bloomed at least for 2 weeks) and the lilacs have almost finished blooming.
This year, due to lack of time, I decided NOT to do much changes in my garden. I just try to keep it in order (which isn't always a success either, having so small kids to look after 24 h). But I do my best!
However, I decided that this year, I invest to container gardening. I have wanted to do it already before, but different pots, baskets and ampels are not very cheap, and summer flowers - which bloom nicely, but last only for 1 summer - are quite expensive as well, especially when you need to buy a lot of them. But nevertheless, I decided to do it - with a thought, that next years, I have all the containers I need and only have to buy the new summer flowers.
Here are some photos of my containter gardening:

10 months old :)

Today, on a lovely summer day, our boys turn 10 months old. Unbelievable...

For 10 months, I have observed my boys and finally, I can write something about their characters.

RALF

Ralf is a serious guy. He does everything with great dedication, he doesn't joke when he is into something important. When he learnt to crawl, he practiced every move regularly, until he had everything "like it's in a textbook" and then he started to crawl. He's also a cuddler. He loves when someone cuddles him and he has a very kind heart. He doesn't take toys from others and is always good to his brothers. :) He can say "Thank you". To people he knows, he can smile at once. But he is a bit conservative about people he doesn't know. He prefers to observe them first.

FRED

Fred is a joker. He never misses an opportunity - when he sees something, he goes after it. In a second. Never regrets anything - he just needs to try all fun things. I think he will be our big trouble-maker soon. :) I often find him in places he knows he shouldn't be. Fred is very sporty, very quick, full of energy. When he goes to bed, he needs to do 100 funny things before he falls asleep. He likes to tease his brothers - he needs to have all toys they are playing with. He finds it funny when he can get the toys from others' hands.

STEN

Sten is our cutie. He has probably the softest personality and most of the time, just smiles. He loves to swing on his chair and stay peaceful. He loves to communicate with people and is the emotional and intellectual boy. He is very friendly and always smiles to people. But when he is tired, then he is tired - you won't miss it. But inside, he has some strong will, too, as he doesn't let Fred to take his toys. While Ralf gives his toys away without much resistance, then Sten fights for them. He knows they belong to him as he had them first.
HAPPY 10-MONTHS-BIRTHDAY, MY DARLINGS!