A late spring combination

Photographed this afternoon in the front garden.  The peony - Paeonia officinalis 'Rubra Plena' - and the Korean lilac, Syringa meyeri 'Palibin' have been getting ever closer.  This year they overlapped.

Paeonia officinalis 'Rubra Plena' with Syringa meyeri 'Palibin'

The peony is one of the few survivors from the garden when we first moved here 19 years ago.  There wasn't a lot here - but the peony was certainly worth it's place.  It's a cottage garden favourite; long lived, hardy, tough as old boots - I once planted one upside down and it still flowered the next year - and tends to get passed around by chopping off a chunk of the woody rootstock.  Which explains why it's in so many local gardens.

The little Korean lilac, Syringa meyeri 'Palibin' has been a later addition but earns its spot with a lovely May scent and pretty little leaves for the rest of the season.  And the scent is fantastic.  I don't have room for the larger lilacs but this smaller one makes up for any disappointment I might feel.