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Behind my several peonies I have evergreen Pieris - aka Lily of the Valley Shrub. A really good background for the peonies. My Pieris shrubs are all mature and between 6 - 7 feet tall. They are beautiful year round in all their seasonal changes, they smell delightful and in the spring the cascades of bell shaped blossoms are a super magnet for honey bees. They require very little attention.
I've looked at boxwoods, hollies, dwarf false cypress, ... but none seem quite right.
Evergreen Pieris sounds like it might be the ticket. I hadn't realized that the newer types were more compact. Just don't have room for 10 ft bushes there.
Fragrance and honeybee food are a big plus as well the year round visual appeal.
I'm thinking about my new garden. When I searched flowers that bloomed all summer in Zone 8, it comes up with peonies. I would like red or white. I'll be in Zone 8. Are they drought tolerant? Do they need to be deadheaded to continue blooms?
I'm thinking about my new garden. When I searched flowers that bloomed all summer in Zone 8, it comes up with peonies. I would like red or white. I'll be in Zone 8. Are they drought tolerant? Do they need to be deadheaded to continue blooms?
All the peonies I've seen bloom in the spring and you need to cut back the blooms when they start to fade. They are green throughout the summer but need to be cut to the ground in the fall.
Mine seem to be drought tolerant.
Also, need to have supports or the blooms flop on the ground. I use tomato supports cut short. They make special peony supports but they don't seem to work as well.
If you cut off a stem with a bud that is about to open, dip the stem end in warm wax to seal it, wrap it in damp paper towels and put in a vegetable crisper in the refrigerator they will keep for weeks and weeks. Every time you want a peony, you pull one out, cut off the waxed end, and put in water.
"Had I but four square feet of ground at my disposal, I would plant a peony in the corner and proceed to worship." Alice Harding, The Book of the Peony
Behind my several peonies I have evergreen Pieris - aka Lily of the Valley Shrub. A really good background for the peonies. My Pieris shrubs are all mature and between 6 - 7 feet tall. They are beautiful year round in all their seasonal changes, they smell delightful and in the spring the cascades of bell shaped blossoms are a super magnet for honey bees. They require very little attention.
I'm just here to spread pieris love. I've killed a few of them over the years, but that was mostly my fault. There are so many new cultivars, and I'm here to vouch for at least some level of deer resistance.
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