I think peonies do better if transplanted in the fall, Louise---and the eyes can't be more than 3" deep---plus they do like their sun.
Have a plant with a story?
I was thinking about that too RD. I just moved a Martha Washington and Bowl of Beauty in 2 weeks ago. They've never bloomed for their previous owner so I raised them when replanting. I have no idea what I'm doing though.
I know you want to plant them deeper---I do, but I took a tape measure out with me, becuse I'm not good judging depth---no math capabilities!
Great idea RD! I have to move another one next year (should have been moved now but a big dahlia accidently grew in it new spot). I'm so going to do that although this one blooms its little roots off so I just have to be sure to plant it at the exactly, exactly same depth as it is now.
Thanks, Marilyn! Good luck with your prettiful peony planting, Dahlia!!
When I got married my mother in law had a small bright red geranium that looked like a species and tended to grow very leggy so she would pinch it back and stick the cuttings in pottery things or little whatevers around the house-----that was in 1973. She later moved to an apartment and continued to propagate the thing in little pieces. Sometime in the early seventies she gave me a cutting that I managed to kill after a couple of years. Sadly, she died from a lung tumor when my boys were small. I hardly remembered the geranium but my father in law kept the plant alive in the apartment. Then he remarried. And then he too passed away. Visiting my wife's stepmother I saw the same plant STILL surviving. She gave me a small piece of it that became a large hanging plant in the kitchen window. Last week I broke a piece of it off and started still another pot of it. The main hanging basket is still sitting outside for the summer.--------------------------weedy.
Very cool story.
Great story!
that is a great story
I'm so glad you have some of that plant---fond memories.
Very nice, Weedy!
Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
Louise, one way to raise the Peony without replanting is to remove the extra soil.
If you dare, lol. Use a fairly hard stream from the garden hose to 'wash away' an inch or two of top soil. Rake it away when it dries to prevent a bowl effect.
I had one that was planted too shallow, I added 2 inches of screened compost and it's bloomed ever since.
The first perennial I ever planted was Hens & Chicks, I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. I got a few from my cousins grandmother who lived nearby. Thirty something years later they were still where I planted them at mu folks house. I grabbed a few for my new house, they have done very well as corner plants for walkways, tough as nails.
Late last winter a big patch got eaten up by a snow blower during a heavy snow. They were sprayed all over the lawn.
This is the ravaged patch after the snow melted.
Andy P
This message was edited Sep 19, 2009 6:48 PM
I picked up the shreds from the lawn keeping only the crowns and replanted.
Here they are now, almost back to normal.
Wow---what a difference---glad you rescued them, Andy, they look fab.
My hens and chicks in my 'desert' bed always look your spring picture Andy. O well at least they're still alive.
Those look great, Andy!
DNut I have them in the most hostile locations, even in my Death Valley. They always grow fine.
The bed above had died after I planted invasive Pink Petticoat Primrose which shaded them out. I yanked the primrose and planted a handful of Hens again.
They get stepped on, the newspaper is thrown on them you name it. I hardly ever water them but I do add a little screened compost on top of them in early spring.
Here is another 'corner' where 75% are growing on asphalt. Only the top center is in soil. Someone snatched a big handful from the left side last year. They were not eaten or disturbed by some critter, simply lifted cleanly like a big bite.
Lets hear another story, I need good down home anecdotes now and then. Like today, lol.
Andy P
Can you tell I'm tired?
Here's the pic.
Andy I'm greeeeen with envy. I'm going to take a pic of mine. You will be shocked at how crappy they look compared to your healthy ones. No worries about being tired; when I'm tired dahlia pics show up in the most non-applicable posts.
Like this one, Dahlia???? :)
pretty
I DO DonnieB ^_^ Owie I think I hauled too many dahliabuckets the last couple of days. This is not good as dahliabuckets have always been the exact max weight I can lift and haul without hurting my back. O well. Today I will use the trusty barrow; takes longer but will work. Off to continue planting and moving bulbous things....
All the dahlias were gently lifted and washed off today, and most of their gorgeous blooms put into vases for the house. Oh, how GORGEOUS they are!! The tubers are now drying out under cover on the porch, so that they can be put away for winter. I'm going to take some of these wonderful velvety red ones to Fla., along with the mini's.
Pretty, Donnie.
It's almost time to bring the dahlias in here, another 2 weeks. I have one that's just starting to bloom.
That's kind of a story.
Early last June one neighbor emptied his above ground pool. The flood drifted across the corner of another neighbors lawn that had just gotten a weed & feed. The old pool water was ok, no chlorine yet but it picked up the herbicide and spread into my flower bed. I lost a few nice plants and 2 fav dahlias.
I dug them up and kinda tossed the tubers into the nursery bed. Now they are blooming, may be salvageable after all.
I love those stories, Andy! It's such a nice surprise when you've written off a special plant and then it shows up and smiles at you! I'm looking forward to taking some of New England south with us when I plant the dahlias down there.
It's a shame to have to dig them up in October when some are still looking so good.
But what other flower gives us 4 months of color so consistently, year after year.
Someone commented on my garden today. "You still have lots of color." while looking at the dahlias.
Now that ours are up and out, the gardens look pretty bare! Mine didn't bloom this year until August, and it was late in August! Strange year, weatherwise!!
That's a beautiful arrangement DonnieB! What's that I hear? Pitiful whimpering and moaning? ... "Dahliapeople where are you? Please come out and dig us up. White stuff is falling out of the sky and we're freeeeeezing out here"
I had to look at my old picture files to see if there were blooms in October last year...had zinnias still going strong, mums and calendula
Flowerjen mums, marigolds, rudbeckia, violas, amaranthus and snaps last til November here. I am having a hoot of a time getting calendula to self sow. None again this year and I have no idea why. It self sows for everybody else. Maybe it hates me sigh.
Dahlias can last until the first snow if there is no hard frost. This was the end of October a few years ago.
Andy P
Now THAT's a valiant dahlia, Andy!
Thank you, Dahlia! I'm really enjoying having them in vases all over the house. I've decided to name these "Red Velvet", even though I'm sure they have another "official" name. They are so cheerful! I did love seeing their color everywhere outside too! I think you've got a convert here! LOL
'Official' only counts for taxes and instant replays dear Donnie B ^_^ Dahlias never care what you call them as long as you luv them. There is a new addict who has joined the Dahlia forum from FL. I can't wait for you to share your containers this winter. I know she will be verrrrrrrry interested. Great pic Andy! Mine have been slayed by Jack. It's now tuber time for me. I will share my digging song ^_^
don't have any plants with the kind of history i read here - i do have a rock with a story :)
i've had this rock for about 5 years, it originally came from a friends property in western mass - wife was not real happy when i lugged this into her car - since then i put it aside and tried to remove the moss growing on it to be able to see the white quartz hunks in it - i've been waiting for the right spot to place it - well it has a home now and when i went to get it all the moss was back - pretty cool though, two kinds of moss and lichens cover it.
and here is the long view - it is between koto-no-ito and red baron jm's
I LUV moss and lichens. Beauty rock wha. Would you please re-post your long view in visible mode? I seem to have lost my supergirl specs that I use to see invisible mode. Thanks muchly.
rotfl
Had to chuckle about the hens and chickens. I planted several different kinds of hens and chickens along a south facing flower bed as a border. Came out one summer morning and found they had all been dug up by a skunk. Whitey the skunk didn't eat them, I guess he was looking for grubs or something underneath. But they needed to be divided anyway and Whitey did the job for me. I stuck them all back in allowing some more space and they picked up right where they had left off. We called him Whitey because his white skunk stripe was very wide and encompassed nearly his whole back. He made a burrow under some rocks in a wall and lived in our yard for many years until he passed away.
Martha