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56 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Perfect peonies plenteous
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Have you ever taken a good, hard
look at the number of peonies in
your garden or your neighbour's?
When I was a child there were three
kinds: white, red and pink. When I
got older I recognized a fourth one:
scented pink. Now I want a whole
20 foot hedge of peonies and I know
that there will not be one duplicate
in the whole lot.
Peonies have always been a very
flashy perennial garden favourite
and even after the blossoms have
faded and been trimmed back, the
greenery is a lovely back drop to
many other summer flowers. The
idea of a hedge along our drive
could not be considered until I
pointed out that they die back to the
ground in the fall and would not
trap snow on the driveway. Now it
looks like it is on the agenda for
spring digging. I have seen some
exquisite peonies in the last few
years.
Once established, peonies don't
need to be included in a divide -and -
plant program. They hate being
moved and will often take as many
as three years to bloom after a
move. A friend up near Brussels has
a hedge that was already established
when they moved in over 25 years
ago and I don't recall her ever
having to dig them up for any
reason. Among all the lovely old
peonies in her hedge is the prettiest
and earliest single I have ever seen.
It is a rich old satin cream colour
with a pink blush at the base of the
petals. It looks as if it is rather
embarrassed at being out so early in
the spring. It resembles the wild
rose -scented blush peony and she
loves to bring a few blossoms to
work in the spring for us all to
enjoy.
If you have to move peonies the
trick to having them flourish and
produce magnificent blooms is good
preparation of the new location. Dig
your spot deep and hack -fill with a
mixture of half compost or manure
and half soil. Do not use fresh
manure. Cover this mixture with an
inch of soil to protect the large
fleshy roots and ensure good
drainage. Set in the root, making
sure there arc at least two buds or
eyes on the root. The trick to
blooming is not the ants but having
the plant only two inches below the
surface. Peonies planted too deep
will struggle and often fail to bloom.
Like all perennials, trim hack the
spent blossoms so that the strength
of the plant goes into the root
system and not into producing
seeds. I know of some people who
mow their peonies down after they
finish blooming. I would like to say
such severe behaviour leads to the
demise of their peonies but every
year those lovely old varieties come
back. I would suggest that you plant
your peonies in a spot where cutting
them back is not necessary until
very late in the fall. Take advantage
of their lovely deeply -cut, lobed
leaves in the garden border.
Japanese tree peonies are making
inroads into many gardens and I
must say I am fascinated with them
too. Unlike their more popular
cousins, tree peonies grow like a
small tree or shrub. They don't die
back to the ground and offer a bit of
silhouette character in your winter
border. They are not difficult to
grow despite their exotic
appearance. They too don't like to
be moved so choose your location
carefully. Keep in mind the spot
should be well drained, sheltered
from north and east winds and a bit
of dappled sun in mid afternoon
helps keep the flowers from fading
too fast. Fertilize in the spring with
a 10-10-10 fertilizer and a high -
phosphorus supplement in early fall.
Peonies are clearly becoming
quite popular. John Simkins and his
wife Violet of Oakville were
1