When we started sheltering in place, I found myself looking for diversions from the stress and anxiety of the news, lack of work, family safety, etc. I've always enjoyed photographing flowers so I decided to purchase a macro lens to discover a new style of photography.

We recently moved our peonies from a shady spot in our side yard to a front yard garden full of sun. It was not the ideal time to move a peony, but we did it anyway. No time like the present.

Through my new macro lens, I began watching my peonies begin to grown and bud. For weeks I watched the buds wondering if they would actually bloom.

This series of images are of my Bowl of Beauty Peony over the course of 21 days. 

Peony buds secrete a sweet, sugary nectar that attracts ants. When one ant finds a nectar-rich bud, she releases a scent back to the rest of the colony, and the ants quickly follow this special bouquet back to the food source. Once the nectar is gone, the ants will leave the bloom in search of food elsewhere.

"An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox."

Lao Tzu

"Flowers are the music of the ground. From Earth's lips spoken without sound."

Edwin Curran

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope."

Ladu Bird Johnson

"Earth laughs in flowers."

Ralph Waldo Emerson