While in town yesterday I met a friend who said he was busy cutting back the peonies and generally trying to close up the garden because he is leaving for Paris in a week or so. Until the end of October. Poor baby.
So I came home and looked at my peonies, which will need a lot of weeding as well as cutting back.
Of course, the tree peonies which produce large blossoms like Guan Yin Mian on shrubby stems, that do not die down to the ground, and that bloom earlier in the spring than the herbaceous peonies, do not need cutting back but they will need some weeding.
My year old ‘Pinky Winky’ hydrangea will need some snipping around its base, too. Fall chores must begin. But not today. It’s raining.
Peonies are one plant I never cut back or trim. I even leave the support up through the winter. They just seem to live on happily. How I love them.
Oh Pat – I hate that expression, “closing up the garden” – seems so final – even if you’re going to Paris, missing the last fall glory of a New England garden is a sad thing!
Nan – There have been years when I haven’t cut the peonies back, and it doesn’t affect their health, but its such a mess in the spring. Nice to know they don’t need that work.
Cyndy – Just remember that full autumnal glory comes a little earlier up here in the hills. And Paris . . .