The gift of peonies…

These peonies from Mom and Dads garden are not just beautiful, they are also plants that connect them to past friends and loved ones.

Peonies are great plants to share…

Dividing Peonies
After 10 or so years of growth, you may notice smaller flowers and crowded stems. This usually means it's time to make more peony plants. "The right time to divide peonies is in the fall," says Rogers. "By that time they've finished their year's growth and have started to go dormant."

This particular peony was given to my parents by the parents of my ex husband.

 

Its my favorite…

Its such a delicate peony compared with their others…

I love the striking yellow stamens..

 

To simulate the foliage dying back in the fall, we cut the foliage back to the soil line. Rogers then recommends removing all the soil from the roots and giving them a good soaking with the hose. Rogers manipulates the roots to get a good look at where they separate easily, and that's where he makes the first cut.

This peony was from my mother's  mothers garden….

 

"Every plant needs a crown, which is this part," says Rogers. "It puts up the shoots and puts down the roots." Each section should have three to five eyes which are where next year's new growth begins. You want enough eyes to create a lush plant. All the fine rootlets need to be pruned away and with good reason. Pests and diseases aren't a huge problem with peonies - with one exception: There are some root diseases that can severely restrict the growth of peonies. That's why it's so important to always cut off the tiny hair roots.

 

This white one is from my father's mothers garden.

Planting Peonies

Dig deep and wide when planting peonies. A plant can mature to a width of five feet or so, and the hole should be prepped accordingly.

The most important thing about planting peonies is selecting a site. Choose a location with at least a half day of sun. More sun will give you

more flowers, and light shade will keep the blooms fresher longer. Once the planting hole is worked to his pleasing, Rogers fertilizes with bone meal. The bone meal will take two to three years to break down, making it a simple, long-term investment.
When you plant, make sure the eyes of the peony are facing up and are planted no more than two inches deep. Cover with soil, tamp the ground

firmly and water. As the plant grows, it will most likely need staking.

 

 

Jeff and I enjoy the peony view from Homey…

  perhaps some day when we have a fixed foundation we will take a bit of each of these to enjoy and remember.

 

I do have a small potted garden on the side of Homey when parked at Mom and Dads..

A close up of the cute frog solar light I have in one of my flower pots.

I change up the plantings each year, usually with different annuals..

 

 

That’s all for now folks!

I hope you enjoyed Mom and Dads Peonies and my little potted garden.

Go forth and divide those peonies to share some memories!

 

 

 

More here from HGTV  on
How to Grow and Divide Peonies

Napatree point, Rhode Island

Jeff and I took a morning walk out to Westerly Rhode Islands

Napatree Point.

It was a beautiful almost cloudless morning.

We parked our car in the two hour limit parking avoiding the 25 dollar parking fees most lots charged.

Napatree is a 1.5 mile long sandy spit just west of the village of Watch Hill.

Watch Hill is a affluent little village with huge, mansions lined up along the ocean.

I love beach rose…the scent is heavenly..but this little rose is invasive.

I noticed that they had areas fenced off and had sprayed herbicide…I am assuming to kill some of the roses and to allow the native beach grasses to grow.

We had to climb a small sandy hill to get to the ocean side of the beach…

This beach once was home to a small vacation community.

The Hurricane of 1938 caught New England by surprise. Forty-two people were in their Fort Road homes on Napatree when the hurricane struck, and 15 died. The storm demolished all the homes built on Napatree

Below is a before photo..

after the hurricane

“Napatree Point is now a wildlife preserve and a popular public beach protected by the Watch Hill Conservancy and Fire District, which have hired wardens to protect the area's wildlife and habitat. These wardens work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the piping plover, a federally endangered species. Napatree is also home to deer, fox, ospreys and a resting area for migratory birds.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napatree_Point

I haven't walked the beach since Florida. 

Nothing like the salt and sand to cleanse the soul…

 

A pretty blue sea sponge.

I heart the beach!

Jeff and I walked the sandy beach and around the rocky area to the bay side of the spit.

Jeff showing off the wooden sword I found.

On the bay side we found a few shore birds.

A pair of Ruddy turnstone,

Semipalmated sandpipers, A pair of American oystercatchers and several Piping Plover.

We couldn’t walk the loop back into town because there was a small inlet of water going into a pond.

We didn’t want to cross the inlet and we couldn’t walk around the pond because the area was roped off for the Piping Plover.

So we back tracked and made it back into town in a bit over 2 hours.  Luckily we had no ticket.

A great walk on the beach!