Gardeners, there is a lot going on in the next short while! This Saturday, March 14, is the date of the Prairie Sun Seed Festival, hosted by the Assiniboine Food Security Alliance. The event begins at 12:30 and goes till 4:00 p.m. at Yorkdale Central School. This is a great event with a variety of booths and displays, as well as interesting speakers including our horticultural group’s own Glen Tymiak speaking about “Gardening 101”. I know Glen will have great advice for any gardener, novice or not! That’s Saturday, March 14.
Then on Wednesday, March 18, at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street, join us for the next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society. Our special guest speaker will be our own Frank Woloschuk who will be telling us “The Secrets To Large Container Planting” and also “What’s New At The Greenhouses for 2015”. Frank is a wonderful gardener, and makes magic with his stunning container plantings, so I know we will be in for a treat! We’ll get lots of inspiration for the year ahead. That date again, Wednesday, March 18.
With longer days now upon us, it’s a lot easier to start thinking of spring! What are you going to add to your garden this year? I was thinking that it would be nice to perhaps add peonies this year.
Peonies are those beautiful, fragrant, romantic flowers that we sometimes overlook simply because they have been around forever and are so tried and true. In our quest for the “next new thing” we sometimes neglect plants that we know and love.
Peonies have been on my mind for the last few weeks. A very dear friend of ours, Father Alan MacGregor, passed away recently. This amazing man was the priest who married us, and we have been friends and pen-pals for many years. When he died, I wanted to make a floral tribute of some kind or his funeral; the flowers that were special to him were white peonies, with red centres. His mother planted these peonies to mark his ordination in 1949, and they were still blooming in his mother’s yard when the house was sold in 2009. I was honored to make our dear friend a wreath with white peonies.
Later on, it occurred to me that a new peony bush would be a beautiful, welcome addition to our garden. I did a little homework on them. They are easy-going perennials that will do well in either full sun or partial shade. We should plant them in a well-drained spot. They don’t required any special care, although I read in the Lindenberg catalogue that if we treat our peonies with rose dust in the fall and the spring, we can help to prevent insect damage and botrytis, a disease that prevents buds from opening.
I remember that someone asked if ants on the peonies are a bad thing, so I researched the question and learned that ants on peonies are not a concern.
And guess what else? For gardeners who don’t have a big garden space, peonies can be grown in pots! The only thing you have to be sure of is that you have a large enough container to support the lush plant without tipping over, and you must make sure it has good drainage. The challenge will be in the fall; the plant will not survive above ground if you leave it outside, so you will have to bring it in to an unheated space like your garage for the winter. But if space is a premium for you, I would give the “peony in a pot” a try! Why deprive yourself of enjoying such a luscious flower?
Peonies come in an ice-cream palette of white, ivory, pale pink, raspberry pink, crimson, and even crimson-purple. Their large, showy blooms are worth their limited length of appearance. I enjoy the dark green foliage of the plants even after the blooms are done. The fragrance of peonies is truly heavenly. When I smell it, I think of Mom’s yard.
So a new peony is in our garden’s future, bringing back fond memories of Mom’s garden, and a tribute to our dear friend, Father Alan. We miss you.
Have a good week.
