Well, they will look ok until August when they start to brown. If you have varieties that have good foliage and change color, then they don't look too bad until end of Sept.

Planting some taller annuals can distract from the foliage and give another interest point. Taller zinnias, cosmos are nice and bloom them as well as anemones (perennial)

Thank you. How do I find out which ones have good foliage?

That is a hard one this year. Seems like all of my peony foliage does not look good this year. They all got powdery mildew.

Good foliage for more peonies or annuals? I really like the Cosmos foliage, it's really lacy, kinda like a fernleaf peony.....You just have to make sure you get a fairly short variety or they'll take over by fall!

Are some more known for good foliage or are they about the same?

Quite a few tree peonies have good foliage.
such as this one:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NMI0...

As much as I love tree peonies, I do not think they make a good hedge. They look better as a lone specimen or a group of 3 with a good spacing between them.

Leslie, it sounds to me like you want to grow a straight row of peonies. Most lactifloras seem to have very good foliage throughout the summer. These will do best in full sun. The only problem with this is some of these are rather floppy peonies. Your best bet is to get those lactifloras with a single or anemone/Japanese forms. These will have good foliage and sturdy stems. Or better yet, look for those peonies that win the APS Best Landscape Awards. They win this Award because they make great landscape plants, that means you get a nice flowering bush with sturdy stems and nice foliage throughout the growing season.

Thanks to both of you. You've given me some good ideas. Tree peonies and the anemone types are the ones that do best this far south anyway.

CS, I thought of your question when I saw this post on the Southern Peony Blog. She has pictures of peony foliage from the last 5 years with the most reliable good fall foliage "award" going to Paul M Wild and Sea Shell. Sea Shell is one that failed for me this year, never recovered from our Mother's Day blizzard and Paul M Wild is too small to make a judgment on in my garden but she backs her selections with pictures if you're interested.
Here's a link to the post: http://www.southernpeony.com/2...

LizinElizabeth said:CS, I thought of your question when I saw this post on the Southern Peony Blog. She has pictures of peony foliage from the last 5 years with the most reliable good fall foliage "award" going to Paul M Wild and Sea Shell. Sea Shell is one that failed for me this year, never recovered from our Mother's Day blizzard and Paul M Wild is too small to make a judgment on in my garden but she backs her selections with pictures if you're interested.
Here's a link to the post: http://www.southernpeony.com/2...

Thank you for the link to that very interesting blog, Liz. I was very glad to see SeaShell and Paul Wild on the list. In the fall of 2014 I planted three Sea Shell roots and moved a Paul Wild from a shady site where it did not bloom. The Sea Shells were very small plants in 2015 and have not bloomed yet. I'll be sure to watch them especially carefully in 2016 to evaluate their foliage in a mid-Atlantic garden.

I'm sorry it didn't make it in your garden. Perhaps you will be tempted to try it again.

Liz, thanks for the link, I'm in 7a/7b and I'll have to pay better attention to my Paul M. Wild and Sea Shell foliage next fall.
Unfortunately, the foliage of both of theses plants have already been cut down by our guys that mow the lawn, and the help with fall clean up


Sea Shell is one of my favorite peonies.

For me, Walter Faxon had the nicest foliage color in the fall this year. Henry Bockstoce green foliage lasted well into early Oct. until the first frost.

I don't think I'll ever have lots to share about nice fall foliage here, unfortunately, with all of our summer hail storms. The only peony foliage that looks decent into fall for me are the NOIDs I have under the pine trees! I really need to put them somewhere else that allows more sun but that area would be too barren without them. Maybe I can have a big boulder put in the area and build up the soil just a bit to allow more moisture for some hostas and daylilies; pine trees suck every bit of water out of the soil which is fairly poor in the first place.
Did you guys take a look at the rest of the Southern Peony Blog? She had some interesting experiments with rooting really small pieces of Itoh peonies, think they're back in 2013 and 2014. And she just posted an article about pruning Itohs in the south, here's the link to that one. http://www.southernpeony.com/2...
Even though we're far too cold to use a lot of the info I enjoy her excitement about peonies and enjoy reading about her new acquisitions every year, as well as seeing yet more bloom pics!

Liz, I did read her info about pruning the Itohs, and also looked through several of her other pages. Her "How To" section is very informative. I pruned several dormant herbaceous and Itoh peonies yesterday. I can't believe how many plants of my have pips showing already.

I came across her sight sometime ago, I've now saved her to my favorites, thanks again to you for providing the link. I was glad to see she also recommends fertilizing peonies in the fall and spring, and makes me realize I wasn't crazy for doing so after all I foresee myself reading her info this winter, during our chilly days, as I dream of spring, awaiting peony blooms😁

My weekend was completely shot--had to work yesterday--so I decided I'd be lazy and get nothing done today. Well, nothing this afternoon, anyway! Had some daylilies I forgot about to plant this morning, all taken care of now. It's chilly out and I feel like being a lazy bum so I'm going back through all of her posts. Came across some pretty pictures and some good advice, wish I lived somewhere warm enough to use it! And my first spring of fertilizing peonies made a believer out of me, Annette, so you're preaching to the choir in my case! I still need to prune some of my peonies, I think all have browned now, finally, and plan to spread some fertilizer when doing the final pruning.

Lazy day here as well Liz, and I'm feeling cruddy I spent the day outside yesterday, cleaning up the beds, pruning the dormant lilies and peonies.

It's chilly, windy and rainy today, so no going outside. I just glanced out the window, and realized Sarah Bernhardt, Torch Song, Baroness Schroeder, Lady Orchid, Kansas, Do Tell, Sword Dance, Wladislawa, and Sorbet, which is now starting to go dormant, still have decent fall foliage. The potted General MacMahon and Felux Crousse also have decent foliage.

Your Sea Shell is gorgeous, Annette! the different stages of bloom on it.

Thanks Karen, it is a lovely peony.

Sorry you're feeling bad, Annette. How you're better soon! I don't know which is worse, feeling cruddy when it's beautiful out or when it's bad weather. I agree with Karen, beautiful Sea Shell. That's one I saw years ago at the Denver Botanical Garden and fell in love with. So far I've managed to kill it twice, once with a bad location and the 2nd time last spring with our really nasty weather. I think that one will have to be a "big pot over the whole plant" peony when I at least get a warning that we're getting blizzard like conditions! Pink Hawaiian Coral the same. Love them both, killed them both......