Peonies: My peonies are breaking dormancy!, 2 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
We crossposted. I arrived in 1998, and my only experience was growing plats in pots on my deck. But we moved with 30 pots, which I put on the front porch. We were a flotilla of four cars.

We sold it in 2011, but really it was mature long before that. If you figure out what a plant really wants (bend down and it will whisper it to you) and give that to it you get maximum healthy growth. You want your soil acidified, OK, Baby. You like lots of compost - yes, sir. I didn't know I was a rabid gardener. And for the first time, I had space. I walked into garden centers, always with a book. I never bought a plant without researching it. My biggest issue was the inappropriate plants that they installed, or installed badly. But you can work with even that.

The people the contractor chose to install my landscaping put a cornus alternifolia on the north side of my property. Poor thing - it leaned sideways, and I made them take it out (they replaced it with a knock 'em dead crabapple). The dogwood was two feet tall, and had one leaf left. I was going to toss it, but my husband, who was not a plant person, begged me to spare it. So I put it on the south side of the house, acidified it, composted it, and watered it. Ten minutes in spring, ten minutes in fall, and soaker hose watering

Nine years later, here it is was, in 2009. One of my favorite plants!

This message was edited Mar 23, 2014 7:00 PM

This message was edited Mar 23, 2014 7:00 PM