Depends on How You Look At It

I asked my husband to cut me some peonies from the farm last Friday.  I'd forgotten there were even bushes up there and hadn't really seen them in bloom.  I was so excited for a bouquet of them.  When he brought them home I have to admit I was a bit disappointed.  They are a single petal variety and really were just floppy and not very pretty.  I had them in various stages of open-ness and am trying to keep some buds in the refrigerator to see if they can be stored.  Just for fun.

But, as the day went on they began to open and although not gorgeous blooms, it was really fun to watch them open.  And, now fully open and dropping their petals, they were fun to play with.

I found some garden fairies in those blooms!  When I asked my younger daughters what they saw on my board, they both said "flowers"....huh?  And, then I realized they were looking at them from the other side.

They did indeed see flowers with yellow root balls.  :)

So I asked them what else they could imagine and one pulled a little bloom from the chamomile I also had in a vase and said:

"A little fairy microphone!"

Three fairy microphones!  The other two fairies were way to shy to sing with theirs.

And, as I was putting petals in jars....some were shaped like hearts! They were a little darker than the others and really photographed darker.

Jars of flower parts.

I'm hoping we can experiment with dying fabric with these flower parts.  The yellow stamens are so bright! I know nothing about dying fabric and want to just boil some water, pour over the pieces, throw in my fabric, and see what happens.  But, I should probably do a little research first. Or not.

And, of course I have no idea if I can keep these in a jar for later use.  I assume so, but maybe they will mold.  We'll see.

I welcome any advice on using them for dye.

So, that not so pretty bouquet actually ended up bringing lots of enjoyment!