I find it so comforting that a previous owner of my home planted a peony garden where nobody can see it. It sits by the compost bin, nearly hidden by the winterberry bush, and definitely blocked from anyone’s view by the backyard fence. The hidden peony garden raises this question: Why plant a peony garden that no one can enjoy outside? And no one can enjoy it inside, either, because it’s impossible to see from the house. So why?
Well, it was for her to cut flowers for bouquets!
Each May, I smile with the reality that the peony garden exists for the express purpose of cutting bouquets for indoor enjoyment. I can imagine someone feeling guilty for cutting the beautiful flowers off of a front yard display. It always seems selfish to me to cut all the beautiful flowers and bring them indoors to enjoy their blooms. Maybe she felt this way, too.
But with a hidden peony garden? A garden whose entire point of existence is for the very pleasure I’m so hesitant to enjoy? The fresh pink blooms were planted for the owner–now for me–for her own kitchen or bedside table. That’s what they’re for. It’s as if they cry out, “Cut me! Enjoy me! I’m for your kitchen table, and nobody will miss me out here!”
And I remember that sometimes God puts things in place simply for our enjoyment, hidden away just for us. I fill my cobalt blue vase and pick the flowers with joy.
