California Peony growers....Help Me!

Hee Hee. I used to have sighthounds who ran everything down. This last time I put Mondo Grass in and bought two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. The 1 year old tears around the yard like a crazy dog but she runs around everything. They do like to rip leaves off the lorapetulum and spit them out (don't ask me) and grazing for acorns is a great past time. Luckily they don't like the few poisonous plants I have in the yard like Hydrangeas. Oh, they do love Japanese Forest Grass. Another weird sticky plant. And they can roll in the giant Mondo Grass to their hearts delight. Nothing touches that stuff. My parents, who have raised dogs for years, now have their entire back yard full of Mondo.. And it comes in such lovely sizes. The black is too puny though.

We grow both Black and Japanese mondos and the doggies seem to leave that alone. They do, however, like to run through the Salvias and Dahlias. I'm guessing they know that it'll tee me off and they love running from me when I catch them doing it. The running part is proof to them that dogs are superior to humans...lol.

Speaking of Dahlias. D. imperialis is going strong (all five of them). Whew, what a relief from last year's snow and frost debacles.

Ah, the Salvias and the Dahlias. That could cause a lot of damage. OUCH. How about mesh netting that your Dahlia's can grow through? It wouldn't help the Salvias, but Dahlia's have to be staked anyway.

The part about peeing made me laugh. A good reason to have female dogs if you don't have a beautiful lawn. A friend brought over her male Cavalier the other day. My ruby Cavalier is quite assertive with any other breed that comes to our house - like growling and snapping and staring them down. It's pretty funny. I swear that male dog tried to pee about 10 times in one hour. He was a busy boy.

Meet Toby,

He's a Temecula winehound. He showed up one day and never left. He thinks he's a Jack Russell

Toby's full name is Tobiwankenobe, Meet Kuki or Kukulkhan, she's got a face for radio

This is Dahlia, she's a PeeBeeGeeBee or Petite Basset Griffon Vendeen. Mostly she's dirty.

This is Scamp or Mr. Bleep you. He thinks he's Toby's size.

oops,

Toby is a pretty generous Jack Russell. No wonder you have no Dahlias.
I don't know how you ever tell Kuki 'No'. That sweet face. I'm not sure what you mean about her face being a radio though. I'm not reading you. Maybe we need Kuki. :-)
And Dahlia - well, a PBGB. That's a dog almost anyone can hug - that is in her case, if you've got your overalls on. Don't want mud on your best clothes. Actually she's remarkably clean given that patch of dirt she's sitting next to. That looks good for a dirt bath for sure.
Is Mr. Bleep You a Jack Russell? I think that in that case, toby is aiming pretty high. I'll bet you don't have to deal with vermin.

Four critters with two coats is a lot to deal with. I'm not surprised that your garden is at risk. They look worth it.

This is Zora with ball. She actually does pick it up and carry the thing around.

Here's Penny with Zora at about four months. Honestly, I didn't name this red dog Penny. She came with the name at 18 months old. Penny's panting because she had just been chasing Zora. The way the play game goes is that Penny waits and Zora zooms and then runs close enough to Penny so that Penny can pounce on her and growl. Funny pups.

Penny has a rare Cavalier disease called Episodic Falling and I've been working on a website for it for about the last three months. It's almost done. Hurray! That's the biggest news in my life right now. Oh, and I ordered some Louisiana Iris today. Always have to have something new to grow. :-)

Now there's a couple of sweet faces!

Congrats on the new Iris.