In the Garden

The Hardy Hibiscus has finally made an appearance! I really thought it was dead. The woman at Linder's warned me that they come up really late - sometimes not until June. I had no reason to doubt her, but until last week, I was certain these things were dead. Must have faith. ;)

The poppies in the hellstrip are blooming, too. Based on how they seem to stretch for the afternoon sun,  it seems that they're not in a very good spot. The blossoms tend to flop onto the ground. I will collect the seed heads and try to seed them in some other spots this winter.

The Hope for Humanity is gorgeous right now. The pictures don't even come close to doing those roses justice. Work has been pretty difficult lately, and I often wonder about whether or not there is hope for humanity. Dramatic, I know.

The pink peonies are in their glory right now. The white ones will be opening soon. My living room and office both smell wonderful as I've brought many in to enjoy. I decided after they all got flattened in a storm last year that I should just cut them and enjoy them - I spend more time in my office than I do in the garden anyway.

Holy Peony! (Guest Blogger)

Holy Peony!

On Friday, ictero and I made the trek to Howard Lake to visit Swenson Gardens Peony Farm. It was one of the “to do” items that never got crossed off the list last year and I’m glad we were able to make it happen this year. The peony field had rows and rows of one-, two-, three- and four-year old plants and made a stunning sight in whole.

There was an amazing variety of colors (the standard classifications of pink, red, white, yellow or coral often didn’t seem to be enough), sizes, shapes and smells. Laura Dessert was definitely the sweetest smelling peony in bloom when we visited and there were a number that either had no scent whatsoever or smelled less than desirable (some of the descriptions we had written down included “rotting roses” and “smells like tobacco”). The Swensons grow all of their peonies without any chemical fertilizers or herbicides and even a brief conversation with Mr. Swenson makes it clear that this is truly a labor of love.

Nearly all of the peonies are available for sale on their website, now to find a place in the yard! The visit was definitely worth the drive to Howard Lake. I think we should make this a recurring item on the gardening “to do” list every year.

So Many Pretty Blooms

Notice the ginormous hollyhock behind the peonies. It's a "nigra" grown from seed last year. When it finally blooms this year, I'm guessing it's going to be over 6 feet tall! 

The white ones are about a week behind these.

I divided, replanted, and gave away these peonies last year, so wasn't sure they would even bloom. I had about 5-6 on each pink peony and one or two buds on the white peonies. I'm hoping for lots more next year!

A soon-to-be-pretty bloom .... I have no idea what color it will be as I dug it out of the ground from a friend of a friend long after it had bloomed last year. I check it every day for tell-tale signs of color.

From Winter to Summer - In a Week

A week ago, it was snowing. Yesterday it was 86F when I went to bed. Crazy. And wonderful.

I've started putting in a few veggies: tomatoes, peppers, celery. And I noticed that I have a couple of peas coming up. I got them in late and used REALLY old seed so I wasn't even sure they'd come up. Of course, now that I've got a few popping up, my excitement is tempered by the fact that the bunnies will probably get them long before they're big enough to actually produce peas.

I love these old-fashioned bleeding hearts. They're just so sweet.

Mom was getting rid of a little plant stand at last week's garage sale, so I took it (thanks, Mom!). It makes the perfect stand for my elephant-ear-birdbath. The mulched area behind the birdbath is planted with tall red dahlias. The area in front of the birdbath is planted in shorter yellow dahlias. And the tripod might be home to beans - or tomatoes - I haven't decided yet. And in the far bottom left of the picture are purple and white cone flower. I'm excited to see this spot when things are in bloom.

This spot is to the left of the picture above. Iris, coneflower and a peony that I'm very excited to see bloom. It's been described as looking like a fried egg - a yellow center with white petals on the outside. There's some lavender in there, too (I didn't think it made it through the winter, but I checked it out this morning and saw a single green leaf starting to pop out). And that plant to the right of the peony ... I have no idea what it is (another find from the friend-of-a-friend's garden of plenty). If you recognize it, please let me know!

Peonies ... A Lesson Learned

I love peonies! If I could find a way to make them bloom all summer along with poppies, I'd be a happy camper. Of course, that's not going to happen, so I settle for the next best thing - I just plant lots of them!

I've been not-so-secretly coveting my mom's double maroon peony - I keep joking that some day when she's gone, I'm just going to go dig part of it out of the ground. But instead, I begged her to take me to the nursery where she bought it so I could get one for myself. So last year in May or June (I can't remember if it was Mother's Day or Mom's birthday), we drove out to Hul's Nursery in St. Wendel (where? you ask ... seem the map here: map of Hul's Nursery). The people who own this place are great! They answered tons of questions and offered really good advice. I came home with my very own double maroon and a white Japanese-type with a yellow center. I think they were $10-15 each.

I wasn't sure where I was going to put them, so they sat in their pots until September. I was worried I had waited too long to get them in the ground, but they're both coming up roses (er, peonies!).

Compare that to the three peonies I picked up at the Cub flower mart on sale for $6 each. Two of the three look like this:

Nothing but barren earth. Granted, it's still a little early and they might make an appearance in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure they were tissue culture specimens at that price, and I've heard that they may not be has hardy the first winter - not sure if that's true or not. But the peonies from Hul's are all divided the old fashioned way. Last year they only had four pots of the double maroon - after Mom, my sis and I were done, there was only one left at the nursery.

Lesson learned: buy the good stuff. From people who know what they're doing and care about their merchandise. I'll be going back this year for a few more - I think I've got just the spot for a fern-leaf peony.