I have been very remiss in showing Peonies this year, but I will now show a few which have patiently flowered in my yard this spring.
These four are Herbaceous Peonies (the first three are in the old-fashioned grouping - the Lactifloras. The last one is a Hybrid Herbaceous Peony, one of the many crosses the Americans have made between the Lactiflora groupings, and the more brightly coloured species plants. In this case, a "Paeonia officionalis "Rubra Plena" parent.
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| Sarah Bernhardt - a reliable old Tart. And the plant's not bad either. |
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| Bowl of Beauty - I love this flower. I forgive her lack of perfume |
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| Lady Alexandra Duff - exquisitely delicate colour combination |
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| Red Charm - the most famous American hybrid - a stunner. |
Some people ask me are Peonies hard to grow?
Well, let me say that I never "feed" these plants, and I have not had to water them this season. Only when the plants were younger (and in bursts of hot, windy weather) would I ever water them, by running a hose on the ground above where the plants grow. Not necessary this year.
Down below the house, there are several lines of Peonies growing amongst the weeds - literally. But they are still flowering.
I am not proud of this, but I am simply reporting the facts.
So, I guess the answer is - No! Peonies are not hard to grow, if you give them full sun, good soil, and rain.
I cannot grow "exhibition quality plants" because the weeds beat me. But I am delighted with the flowers which simply appear outside my front door, every year.
5 comments:
As beautiful as always!
You mention the need for good soil which you certainly have at Robbo. We, who live on shale, fantasise about good soil! We suspect that the few spots on our place with any soil reflect it being delivered in trucks!
Martin
Beautiful flowers. I wouldn't mind a few weeds if there were flowers like that growing out of them!
that is very interesting, I always assumed peonies were hard to grow, I suppose because they look so showy and exotic.
Martin knows what I mean by "good soil". In my case it is deep red basalt soil. But I have grown Peonies successfully in Canberra, in heavy black loam.
Catmint, you might need to add humus, depending upon your soil, but seeing photos of your garden, and how everything else grows, I am sure you can manage that.
My point was they are NOT fussy, and certainly NOT delicate.
They do like a fair amount of sunshine. In fact I grow mine in full sun.
In Martin's case, I would suggest ignoring the basic rock, and use a raised garden bed (railway sleepers) as people do with a vegie garden when growing on hard and poor soil, and several trailer loads of soil mix from one of those "yards" which supply various sand and gravel mixes and/or compost mix. Grow vegies on one end, and your Peonies on the other end. Not Pumpkins, though as they will swamp everything.
Cheers
Denis
Thanks Mick
Yes, well after a few medical interruptions, over the years, my garden plan went haywire, and now i settle for beautiful flowers amongst the weeds.
Denis
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