On 9/29/2015 5:11 AM, Leon Fisk wrote:
On Sat, 26 Sep 2015 18:51:23 -0700
"David E. Ross" wrote:

snip
I cannot grow peonies in my climate. The winters are too mild. The
last time I saw peonies growing and blooming was seven years ago in
Delaware and Pennsylvania. Thus, I could not remember how the leaves
look.

I was looking for a photo to show my neighbor yesterday and came across
these:

http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-1.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-2.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-3.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-4.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-5.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/peony-6.jpeg

Nothing special really but thought you might enjoy seeing them again

We've had these peonies ever since I can remember, probably ~50 years...


I was told by a local nursery that, to grow peonies, I had to buy a
length of chicken wire or bird mesh about four feet wide and long enough
to make a cylinder about four feet in diameter. In early November, I
would have to slip this cylinder over the plant and keep it filled to
the top with ice cubes until sometime in March.

I can't grow Dutch tulips either, except as winter annuals. On the
other hand, I have a rosemary bush growing at the foot of my driveway
that is taller than I am and a dwarf lemon tree that produces more
lemons than anyone can use. When I prune my roses at the end of
December and the beginning of January, I often collect a bouquet of
roses for my wife. And I have never shoveled snow.

There are trade-offs for living in a mild-winter climate.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary