The hoops that you see in the garden center are fine of you have isolated plantings. But for a hedge of peonies, the hoops just won’t work well. I got tired of the bushes flopping over when they are heavy with blossom, especially after a good thunderstorm. It never seems to fail, just at the height of the bloom a big storm rolls through and knocks them all down.
This simple support system really performs well, I use wooden stakes and vinyl cover wire mesh – it’s about 2x3 holes in the fence. I pound the stakes in the ground and simply slide the mesh over the up to about 18” from the ground. This allows the plants to grow through it and will hide the supports by the time they bloom.
Also, it is pretty handy to have the plants through the supports. When they dry you can just use your garden trimmer and cut them off under the support. I was lazy last year and left the supports up all winter so that is where we start.
Not sure what happened but this one fell over.
So after cleaning it up it looks like this.
It's not very pretty but it works. By June you won't be able to see the support system at all, and, when it rains the plants will not all collaspe.
So while I was out I took a few more pictures.
The magnolia is looking pretty. I don't know how everyone feels about daffodils popping up throught the lawn but I like it.
Here we are in the back the bleeding hearts coming up next to lungwort in full flower.
Clearly I need to rake out the beds. And here are some early ferns unfurling.
Helleboris or Lenten rose.
And lastly some hops. Beastly plant but fun to grow.
I still have a great deal of work to do to get it cleaned up, but it is growing - looks like most everything survived the winter. The large amount of snow probably helped.
Until later....
No comments:
Post a Comment