My Peonies are Blooming!

My peonies are blooming now!! I love peonies! Who could not just love those beautiful huge ruffled blooms? And the fragrance is beautiful too. The blooms are so huge that they weigh down the plant, so it is best to stake them. I use a metal garden ring to help support the plants. Peonies are very hardy and will last for many decades. If you decide to plant one, make sure that you plant it where you want it to stay and make sure that there is plenty of sunshine. Peonies do not like to be moved and doing so may take years to re-establish and also several years for blooms. Peonies can be divided but I wouldn't suggest that until only after they become crowded which is usually a long time, probably 10 to 15 years. Fall is the best time to divide them. If you do divide, each section should contain 3 to 5 eyes on it's tuber.

Not only do I love these but ants love them too! Ants feed on the sweet, sticky secretion which covers the flower buds. I wish that their gorgeous fragrant blooms would last longer. They usually last around 6 weeks, maybe a few weeks longer. I have two plants at my mailbox and one in one of my backyard flower beds. I did have many more of them. But as you may know, in the fall they die back down into the ground and there are just the tubers that remain in the ground. I think that a couple of them were accidently thrown out when my sweet better half cleaned out the flower bed. I am also missing my about 4 of my huge hosta that were about 18 years old or so. Mr. better half thinks that I believe his story that he hasn't touched them. And truthfully he really doesn't think that he did. He doesn't realize that they also wither down and there is nothing but the roots in the ground once the plant dies down. So I am sure that they got tossed out too. Well.... I really can't complain. Bless his heart, he didn't know. And besides that I am just very fortunate to have him doing all that he does do around here. He really is a sweetheart.

I love the contrast of the red lilies against the silvery lamb's ear. Lamb's Ear is very soft and furry looking, hence the name. And they shoot up stalks that have tiny light purple flowers. Very diminutive flowers. They have a very nice sweet fragrance. Bees and butterflies love them.

Most of the perennials that I have on my property I started either by seed, root cuttings, or divisions from other plants. The lamb's ear is one that I have propogated very easily from seed. I started off with one very small lamb's ear plant many years ago. I left most of my lamb's ear at my prior home when I sold it and brought just one plant with me when I moved to this property because I knew that with a couple of them I would soon have many lamb's ear plants. Another thing that I also love about them is that they are beautiful even in the winter here in Georgia. At the end of the season I leave the stalks for a while and give them time to dry down a bit. When I remove the stalks I sprinkle the seeds around here and there. The seeds are tiny little things but there are a gazillion of those little seeds. I never fail to have more plants come spring the next year.

Here is one of the rose bushes that is in the lower garden. I don't know the name of the roses but they are climbing variety of rose and are a very pale pink. They drape over a cedar fence and I am afraid that they no longer get the sunshine that they need in order to bloom like they once did. The rose bush is very large, several feet taller than myself and my husband, so moving it is not an option. It was already planted on our property when we bought our home. I knew in time that the oak trees that were nearby would in future years shade out much of the needed sunshine required for roses to bloom to their potential. But they were already too large to transplant even then. They have a beautiful sweet fragrance and there is also a honeysuckle vine that is entwined thruout the roses.

Years ago my father brought me one of these spiderwort plants that I had asked him to get from his brother. They have long grass like leaves and my plants have tiny little three petal purple flowers on them. I have also seen Spiderwort with white, magenta or blue flowers. These plants are very easy to propogate. You can divide the plants and seperate into new plants, propogate from seed and also from cuttings. You can cut these down and it will be no time before they are blooming again. Very easy to have lots of plants! My uncle and my father both have now passed away. Whenever I look at them I think of both of them. If I ever move again I will always carry one or more of these plants with me. Here in the south I plant my Spiderwort in the shade. If you live in the north they may tolerate the sun and may even bloom more heavily with a little sun.

Well, I hope you have learned something by stopping in today. Hopefully I will have more to share with you soon. In the meantime I hope you are enjoying your spring and summer blooms!

Lots of love,

Barbara