Thanks Sjoerd. Yes, i keep working on that hakone grass area.... The composition. It's been fun. I like your idea of using an umbrella while i work in the yard. Some relief from the sun. I know I'm not supposed to transplant things so late here, but honestly we go from winter to summer in the blink of an eye. I find the perennials all make it so long as I baby them a little.
I always put peony in water in marshmellow form then over night in cool area to drink lots of water in prep for long lasting life vase. In vase for a week…still holding onto petals. Here is a big peony the size of my hand.. I have big hands hehe…
My beautiful friend who taught me to garden here, recently shared that her grandmother always did this. She said they would keep forever and ever, and have a gorgeous vase of them when all in the garden were done. She made our wedding boquettes from her garden and employed the same technique. I would love to try this Cayuga. Do you wrap them or anything of the sort while you store them in the fridge?
I was easily distracted by the prospect of peonies later from the fridge..... I forgot to mention that your garden is such a lovely elegant blend of nature and lush beautiful flowers. You have so many of my favourite colours and all so beautiful. The forest in the background and around you is soulfully calming and just so incredible. You've done a really fantastic job. can I ask....what are jumping worms?
Thank you for the garden compliments. It’s been a slow start this season to much rain not enough sunshine. Very odd. It’s is always nice to share like minded fotos of gardens.
Beautiful peonies! I've been trying to grow a bare root yellow peony I bought this spring, so far no luck. I saw a few that I would love to have in my collection yesterday at a garden center. Fern leaf Peony was $96 - a little out of my budget!
It hard to believe how incredibly spendy plants have risen higher than inflation. If the garden I have today were at todays prices I would never planted half of what’s in place now.
I'm glad you've got what you've got in your garden, @Pacnorwest, and that you're showing us. I bough a double Paeonia tenuifolia in 2019. It was horribly expensive, but so hard to come by that I bought it anyway, with my husband's blessing. I also have a yellow Paeonia, the P. mlokosewitschii, or "Molly the witch" as some call it. I think we need a "show me your Peaonia"-thread.
@Melody Mc. I just saw your posting about picking peonies while in bud & putting them in the fridge. I just loosely wrap mine in waxed paper (remember waxed paper?) and stick them in the veggie crisper. The leaves wilt a little bit but perk up when put in water weeks later. I don't know how long they would keep in the fridge..... We'd need someone to do a study of it @Jerry Sullivan. I find the flowers open beautifully... But maybe just a little smaller than the ones on the bush. Let me know if you do it next spring & what your results are.
More flowers: I ordinarily have bright daylilies blooming in the back of this garden. But something (deer? the groundhog?) has....eaten....every....single....bud.
I vote that we blame the groundhog Still very lovely! What are the pretty blue flowers? My peonies are in bud right now, and have not yet opened yet. Is there a certain stage of bud they should be at to do this CM? I'm in from a break of weeding the memory garden right now. When I go back down I'll take some pictures of the buds. Some are still very tight, other's have a hint of what's to come...
Wow!!! Your peonies are about to bloom now??!! Melody, I'm new to this.... Have only done it once. I picked the buds once the color was showing. One i pick a bit younger & it still bloomed but the blossom was a bit small. The blue flowers are stokesia....Stoke's aster. Their blue is actually prettier in real life. A true pale sky blue. I like them because they are good contrast to all the yellows we have in July. Very easy to grow. No bad habits
That Stokesia is a gorgeous thing. They look good anywhere, in any garden. You have a nice clump there.
I went to the garden and my single petal peonies have begun to open. The large double petal pink ones are still tight buds, except for one. You gave me a wonderful idea CM....the dear friend that has been moved away for almost 10 years and taught me so much, is coming to visit in a few day for an afternoon. They have a trailer and are on a long journey to northern Alberta, but I'm going to pick a bud from the double one and put it in the fridge for her, to put in her fridge, and have open when she gets home - thank you
Say Cayu, are those extremely tall plants way back there spent Digitalis flower stems? I just can’t get over how nice your yard and garden plots look. Chapeau.
