Peony 'Nice Gal' foliage

The new emerging foliage of this peony is burgundy-red.

Lovely banner, Laurie. I miss having peonies, my grandmother and a few aunts always had them. My neighbor had 2 rows of them about 50' total, but when she had to move, the new owners ripped them all out. We were both tempted to dig a few out, but the house was actually sold at that point and neither of us wanted to risk doing anything improper at that point. If we only had known what the new owners were going to do... I'm going to have to make room for them somewhere.

Laurie, eye-catching banner!
Enjoy color contrast and water drops!

That's a pity about peonies!

In a nearby, (near by me!) neighborhood,
a lovely home had a lovely yard,
kept up by a gardener,
since the widow liked flowers, and colorful glass!
She had beautiful glass orbs hanging in large crepe myrtles.
Also had nice flower bed by driveway.
After her death, new owners removed flower bed and decor.

In the same neighborhood,
that we occasionally walked through during construction,
one area had collection of colorful camellias,
planted by a camellia collector, curator, gardener?

Yes, you guessed it!

Since house built on lot,
camellias and insects attracted to blooms are gone!

It's great gardeners get therapy
by digging in dirt, planting seed(lings)!
and believing in power of miracles!

TT, I made gardens every time my DH & I moved, and we are on our 8th home now. It was so sad to see my efforts ripped out so that the mowers could cut their lawn, but after the 3rd time I stopped going by because it hurt me too much. I would do it all over again, but I wish the big riding mowers would not be used on a regular sized lawn. I've seen so much damage in my neighborhood. I'm glad I can still mow our lawn, because I have hired someone to do it when I had to have a knee replaced and he cut down one of my Sago Palms twice.

Great banner Laurie!

I agree--it is sad to see gardens disappear with a change in property ownership. You just hope they shared the plants with family, friends or neighbors.

Lawns do have a place in landscapes--especially for kids' activities (sports, etc), although maybe it doesn't have to be pure grass--there is a lot of interest now in lawn alternatives that don't require much mowing or other inputs.

I had a buffalograss lawn for a while--only needed a couple of mowings and infrequent watering each year! I'm considering a white dutch clover for one area, maybe mixed with a little low growing thyme.

Here are some pictures of Nice Gal peony. It is a great landscape plant--no support needed. The burgundy color lasts a few weeks in spring.







Thank you everyone for your comments and likes!

Those are gorgeous, Laurie. And no about sharing anything they dug up... they just tossed it. They removed a 25' row of alpine currants next to my driveway that really were nice looking there and kept weeds out, cut down an old tree in the back, a young plum tree in front that was maybe 12' tall, the evergreens in the front and flowers under them, and a concord grape vine that grew around the small deck and secluded it, it was very cozy before. There's one old tree left on the parkway that the city owns, otherwise I've no doubt it would be gone too, and that's it. Now when I back out of my driveway I see nothing but weeds where the currants were all summer, they don't even run the mower over them.

I wonder what their plans are? Why take everything out and then leave a weedy plot?

Thanks for the acorn, Nora!

No plans other than just plain boring flat grass. In the front where the evergreens were under the windows, they put a short retaining border back up as if to hold new plants... and then just filled it with white stones and some bricks. Not one plant or shrub went there either.

Recent rains must be Mother Nature's tears!

Nancy, I have seen lawns around here that are 70% rock or gravel. I would rather stick a plant in the ground anytime.