A colorful Peony party at my home
This past spring, to celebrate the blooming of my peony garden, I hosted a Garden Tour and Cocktail Party for the Bedford Historical Society. My guests and I toured the gardens paying particular attention to the herbaceous peonies, which bloomed a little too early this year. I asked Chef Pierre Schaedelin to prepare the food and we enjoyed cocktails at the stable. One hundred percent of the ticket price was donated to the Historical Society.
The Society preserves and protects many of the historic building and landmarks in Bedford, New York. It is a non-profit organization, which relies on its members and fundraisers to cover the expenses of preserving Bedford’s unique historic character. I was happy to help support the Historical Society and its mission of preservation. My friend and neighbor, Peter Michaelis, an avid photographer, is very active in the Historical Society and took many of these photos. Please enjoy.
1 This past spring, the peonies were spectacular, however, they were more than two weeks early.
2 This was a real problem, because I had scheduled my annual peony party for when they would normally be in full bloom.
3 This is what the peonies looked like the day before the party - a little tattered, but still beautiful.
4 Peter took a stroll through the garden and captured some gorgeous specimens.
5 This looks like crepe paper.
6 I wonder how many petals this peony has?
7 It's hard to believe that such a small bud could open and become such a large bloom!
8 Beautiful simplicity
9 Pink and pretty!
10 I'm always happy when my good friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin comes to the farm and cooks.
11 Pierre made colorful and delicious hors d'oeuvres.
12 The row in the center is a very finely minced chicken salad Provençal flavored with lots of fresh herbs and topped with diced carrot and celeriac.
13 On the left is a white bean puree with artichoke heart and fava bean. On the right is eggplant caviar topped with shrimp and roasted pepper.
14 On the left is a potato salad in a potato shell with gerkins, capers, and red onion. On the right is an asparagus tart with a poached quail egg.
15 Pierre also made grilled sweet Italian sausage served on mini brioche and grilled mini burgers.
16 The burgers grilling
17 Pierre slicing sausage with a tray of mini brioche. Yum!
18 There was also a cold and refreshing pureed fresh pea soup from garden.
19 Here I am with my good friends, Steve Gerard and Jane Heller.
20 Frank Geiger and Muffin Dowdle
21 Carey and Allesandra
22 Rutger joins the party with his own hors d'oeuvre
23 Sarah Seifer - taken by PM
24 Lynn Ryan and Rachel Ocken
25 Camile Branca & Marianne Hawley
26 Parker Gilbert, Kurt Harrison share a laugh with me
27 Andi Davis and Meghan Douglas
28 With David Hochberg
29 My tree guys - Ralph Robbins and George Bridge
30 Heather Kirkland and Erin Furey of the MSLO even staff helped make this a wonderful event.
31 Leslie Needham and John Needham
32 Eric, Lee, Janet and Ken
33 Peter Chryssos and his mother
34 Stacy Albanese and her parents
35 Hey Francesca, let's head over to the snack table!
36 RJ Marx & Michael Millius + handsome waitstaff
37 Yasmeen Bernstein
38 Russell Hernandez
39 Wendy and Stuart Ross
40 Janet Jacobsen and Peter
41 Casey Brooks, Kirtley Cameron, Peter, Lee
42 Susan MacGill and her lovely daughter
43 Ken and Lee Roberts
It all looks perfect. You certainly know how to lay on a party. I love the green wooden trays used for the canapés, great colour that sets them off beautifully. I like the way people are dressed too, very elegant. More pictures of handsome waitstaff, please!
Posted by: Christian / @vfbr2001 | July 16th, 2010 at 2:49 am
I am so pleased that you showed photos of this party. The canapes looked like works of art!
Posted by: Pru | July 16th, 2010 at 8:12 am
I am obsessed with how cute that party was! Would have LOVED to be there! Pierre did such a good job on the food! You need to have him on the show to teach me how to make all the food.
Posted by: Beth | July 16th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Martha, thanks for sharing this blog. The party looked fun.
Posted by: KLBrown | July 16th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Gorgeous! Living in Houston, peonies and lilacs are two of the things I miss the most from the midwest...
Posted by: Pam | July 16th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Love the phots and the scenery. Just lovely!
Posted by: Sharon Love | July 16th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Hi Martha,
Maybe the peonies came early but they were just as beautiful! Thanks for sharing your party with us - the Bedford Historical Society is a really good thing! Trish
Posted by: Trish | July 16th, 2010 at 11:55 am
The peony is my most favorite flower ever!! I have about 4 peony bushes in my back yard and I am always on the look out for more varieties!! I love how the little ants crawl all over them to "get them going"
Thanks for sharing!!
Posted by: Jeremy | July 16th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hi Martha, What a delightful, gorgeous, fun blog! Peter certainly did a fantastic job taking such stunning photos of the peonies, party goers, Pierre cooking, etc.! Everything looked absolutely great! Pierre's hors d'oeuvers looked so delish! Yummy! Rutger sure looked handsome and G.K & Franny looked so darn cute! All of those peonies were beautiful! My favorite photo was #19. I always love seeing Jane Heller! Hope everyone has a super weekend. It's going to be much cooler here-around 70. Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | July 16th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
finally, i've been waiting for your peonies! spectacular as ever...
Posted by: liisamarja | July 16th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I am so jealous. Your peonies are beautiful. I would love to grow peonies here in San Diego. Any suggestions? It's hard to find a very large variety to choose from and I always seem to miss the planting season. Do they grow well here? Anything would help, thanks.
Posted by: Renee Christensen | July 16th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
what a lovely group!
Posted by: Wendy | July 16th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
What can I say? I promise not one comment about early and late from me. The party is perfect and I am glad you invited us all by sharing this blog and wonderful photos.I enjoyed it, Thank you.
Posted by: ann | July 16th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Hi Martha, thank you for sharing the paeonie photos. I especially love #4 as I have this particular bush in my garden. It was a reject from a garden tended by my sister who is a gardener. Last year I found out that it is called Mr Ed.
I love going out each day to check the blooms and to see how many different variations of blooms I can get on the one bush.
I have also managed to successfully air dry some secondary blooms and a couple of smaller end-of-season blooms. They have held their shape & colour and look lovely with dried lavender heads from my miniature lavender plants.
Last season (November for New Zealand), paeonies were not very forthcoming with their blooms. Even registered growers had problems with quality and quantity of the blooms.
Take care,
Marian
Posted by: Marian | July 16th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Martha,I love your peonies.They are heavenly gorgeous! and your cook's hors d'oeuvres are fabulous, reminding me of Japanese Kaiseki dishes at the best restaurants.
Posted by: Aki Aikawa | July 17th, 2010 at 12:42 am
Martha - loved seeing the pics of the peony party. After hearing comments from you on your show several times about it, I was glad to know that you really had it (since the peonies were so early). What I want to know is how you manage to look about 26 years old! Can't wait for your show to start next season - looking forward to seeing more of your fabulous trips this summer!
Posted by: mary barber | July 17th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Wish I knew of a variety of peonies that could stand up to the Texas heat. They are beautiful flowers.
Posted by: Andrea | July 18th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Peonies....i just adore them. I only had a few growing quite happily beneath the shade of a big maple and adjacent to a cedar hedge. They really loved this spot. I sure do wish i still lived in the country and had the land on which to grow lovely peonies. What a great party you threw! Thanks Martha.
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | July 18th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Wonderful blog... gorgeous peonies all great as usual with Martha Stewart. One question, how do I make your no sew tote larger, I made it using the template given and can barely fit anything insede. It is a wonderful idea.
Posted by: lilar | July 20th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Peonies are very easty to grow and the flowers appear as if by magic each year. Grow peonies and cut a few to bring into the house to enjoy. What an inexpensive way to enjoy the day. Boy do I wish I still lived on my one acre property. Thanks for lovely thoughts and lovely pictures Martha and gang. I hope your readers will check out my Word Press blog story on romance 'cause there is a place to vote for me there.
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | July 21st, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Hello Martha: I love Peonies just not this this particular type. I went to the Milwaukee Botanic Gardens with my aunt last year. what a nice section of peonies. they are not my favorite but are becasue they only come out for two weeks a year about. It is not my favorite flower. My favorite flower is a gloriosa lily.. My pint here is that we cannot use stem cells of plants to make products this way. I also wanted to alert you that they flu shot for this year was made as two in one flu and swine flu bird flu six keep. i hope to have a flu shot deletion for those with stones or ships or whatever wthin a few weeks. Best Wishes Martha. I hope drug stores like everywhere do not just give people a shot or shoot one at them including myself and especially Izy. i said and warnded all of you not to take my data. I am not a medical professional technically. I was turning this into my doctors.
Posted by: Bridget Kelly | December 15th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
If you love Peonies... please go to gemmadigrazia.com and see my sister's paintings of Peonies!! I am the artisit's sister. We grew up in NYC. No, I am not biased. Her paintings of Peonies are brilliant.
Posted by: Sara Di Grazia | October 27th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Yasmeen looks beautiful in addition to the peonies
Posted by: Joseph Piccinotti | November 23rd, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Looks like you had a lovely event! The peonies look so beautiful. And the photos of the food and cocktails look nice too!
Posted by: Peonies Wedding Flowers | January 26th, 2012 at 3:56 pm