Mother Nature's Sense of Humor Personified - Peonies

[Stinky The Clown]

We have six peonie plants at the end of our driveway. Every year they get these huge, carnation like flowers. And they're just plain gorgeous and spectacular.

But .......

Peonies are pollinated by .... ants! No peonies in the house.

And .......

The flowers are far too heavy for the stems. The first rain after they bloom and that's it. They're on the ground, stems bent, never to rise again.

Before the rain ........


After the rain .........

[SiouxJ]

1. It's so green where you are!

That's the first thing I noticed. I miss seeing lawns like that. I'm in Arizona. I'm in the mountains, so it's greener than down in the desert, but still, you don't see a lot of lawns. I hope your Peonies have bounced back ;-) .

[MissB]

2. They are beautiful

I have to prop my peony plants up with stakes. A friend of mine ties up the whole bush, but I'm too lazy to do that. I just stick a couple of bamboo sticks in the ground and form an "x" shape and let the plant fall on those. It sorta keeps them up.

I love the peonies.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. I loved going up to the Midwest this past month.

Everyone's gardens are always so lovely, and peonies are ALWAYS part of the equation, it seems.

I stopped at an antiques place outside of Rockford (the Elderberry I think it was called?) and the entire outside was ALL GARDEN. Lamb's ears, and peonies, and herbs, and artimesia, and HUGE hostas as big as dinner plates, and daisies, and I couldn't even begin to describe everything. Just beautiful!

So they're a little droopy. We can't grow them well here (not enough dormant season), and I envy you your droopy lovelies.

FSC

[Stinky The Clown]

4. This was the first year in many that I didn't put a ring around them

I usually put a wire ring (think coat hanger material coated in green plastic) around them just before the flower buds set. The leaves of the plant are sufficiently strong to hold the ring up and the ring keeps the plant from drooping from the weight of the flowers. After a rain, I would bet those flowers weight at the very least a pound each. They're huge.

And beautiful! :)

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Do you remove any buds before they bloom?

You get bigger blooms from the remaining buds and they're less likely to droop down on the ground. I don't always get around to it but it does help. Those two-bud-on-one-stem deals never produce very big blooms but if you snip off one bud. . . I never stake mine at all.

I always hate being asked to name my favorite flower, favorite color, favorite song, etc., but if asked my favorite flower, I'd say "Peonies!" at least 95% of the time. Not much else is as beautiful and as wonderfully fragrant as an old-fashioned peony.