Hi Liz,

Yes, I always use soil conditioner and Black Kow composted manure to amend the soil, and I add Epsom Salt and Bulb Food to the hole where I'm placing the plants.

For larger areas, I spread several inches of the soil conditioner, with the compost on top, that I dig in as I go along.

We just had all the beds mulched with pine straw. However, I keep the pine straw away from the base of the plants.

So far, the plants that I've placed in the ground seem to be doing fine. I've never planted peonies in August, so we'll see how they fare next spring.

Hi Annette! Have you finally gotten all the Peonies in the ground? How is everything looking? Do you have any photos to share? Are you getting this high heat, too? It is ridiculous!!

Hi LG, thanks for checking in! The heat is ridiculous, and we've not had any rain for 2 weeks! We've been watering the potted plants daily, and I'm thankful that we put the drip system in all the garden beds!

I'm steadily getting the peonies and other plants into the ground! Unfortunately, I had to take a break from gardening, and fly up to NJ to see my son, who is currently undergoing an evaluation for his swollen lymph nodes.

I'll be flying back home on Friday, and I'm looking forward to being able to plant in my garden again.

Here a a few pics of areas that I've landscaped so far, and you can see the border bed in the background where some of the peonies have been planted.

I've planted a dormant peony in front of the cannas.


Yumi, Misaka, Sunny Girl, Cheddar Surprise, and Duchess de Lorraine have been planted in the bed behind the stone bench.


Pardon my tomato plants😂! Bartzella has been planted in the bed to the right of the birdbath. I've also planted some Russian sage and Clematis Arabella behind the birdbath amongst the yellow blooming peonies. Not in this pic is Veronica Sunny Border Blue that has been since planted in front of the birdbath.


The last 2 pics show the bed where most of the red peonies will be planted. Already in the ground is TP Banquet, Dad, Karl Rosenfeld, and Paul M. wild.

Thanks for the update... everything is just lovely, Annette! Those planters are adorable!!

Everything looks nice and lush.
Are you able to leave the Brugmansia in the ground during the winter? I have two, and unfortunately they have to come inside before frost.

I hope that they will find out what is going on with your son. I hope it is not a tick related disease.

I'm sure you will get everything planted. You have plenty of time!

Your garden looks very nice already, Annette! Thanks for the update! I hope you son will be treated correctly and heal soon.

Thanks LG and Anya, and you're welcome!

I will leave the brugs in the ground, but they'll get heavily mulched. I'll take some cuttings above the Y, just in case they don't make it. I had one at my previous home, that came back for years, but I hadn't been giving it enough fertilizer for it to bloom. I've planted 3 in this garden, I'm looking forward to see the color of the blooms. Two of the 3 plants have buds.

My son will see an ENT on Friday, and I hope she'll come up with a good plan of care for him.

It looks like the temps will start trending down over the next week, and there's rain forecasted for Saturday, finally! I'll have 4 days to work in the garden before I return to work, so hopefully I'll get a lot planted then.

It's funny when I go to empty one on the garden bags, thinking there are one or 2 plants in them, then I find a ton of bulbs for daffodils and other spring blooming plants that I also stuck in the same bag, that I had forgotten about. I guess I brought a lot more plants than I thought!😂

I bet your Brugs will come back! I feed mine miracle gro for tomatoes.

Good plan for your son. Please keep us posted.

Good for you on the bulbs. I'm sure you will have a gorgeous garden soon enough!

Beautiful landscape and garden, Annette! Can't wait to see it next year when things will start blooming. I am sorry about your son's swollen lymph nodes and wish him a quick recovery.

Thanks Karen!

I'm happy with the way the garden is turning out so far, and I'm looking forward to next spring. My DH has been responsible for doing the watering while I've been away. He can't believe how many plants I've already gotten into the ground.

My son will see the ENT tomorrow, so hopefully, we'll have more information about his care then.

Wish good recovery for your son, Annette.

I am sad to cut a lot of perennials before my travels. Most of herbaceous border ( the biggest part I finished at the moment ) looked just heavenly, butterflies are all over. Took a few pictures before drastic measures.

I am with you, Alex! I have to prepare the garden for winter this weekend before my travel in a week. My flower bed is still full of flowers!

What did the Dr say about your son, Annette?

Alex, I would have a hard time cutting that down. It's so beautiful. I've had so many more butterflies this year.
Hopefully next year will be even better!

Alex, thank you for your kind words about my son! Your garden is gorgeous, I would have such a tough time cutting down all those lovely blooms!

Safe travels to both you and Anya!

LG, the ENT felt the nodes are reactive, however, she sent him for an ultrasound to follow up on the ones that are still enlarged. He'll be seen by her again in 1 month.

Here are a few pictures from there garden this morning, and my set up to deal with planting in the heat.

This bed will contain mostly red and fuchsia peonies and roses.


The yellow and apricot tone bed


Misaka has gone completely dormant, planted with Russian sage and Veronica


Duchess de Lorraine has done well despite our very hot summer.


My method for dealing with planting in this ridiculous heat!😂 Beach umbrellas aren't just for the beach! 🏖

Thanks for the update on your son, Annette. Hopefully it will go away soon.

I never thought of using a beach umbrella ⛱! Great idea!

My area showed up on the weatherman's drought map yesterday. Lots of my peonies are getting brown leaves and looking bad. I am watering, but really need some rain!

LG, so sorry to hear that you're re in the area of the drought. I just checked, and our zone has been labeled "abnormally dry".

We have spent a lot of time watering. I hope that GA won't start having watering restrictions!

I've used the beach umbrella frequently over the past few weeks. I'm sure my new neighbors think that I'm crazy😂!

Don't you worry about what the neighbors think about your beach umbrella. Once your garden starts blooming next Spring they will all be wanting to see it!!

Have fun!

Thanks LG!

It will be much cooler tomorrow, so I hope to get a lot done in the garden, and hopefully, not have to use the umbrella.

You're my inspiration, Annette! Your new gardens are already pretty, I can see that they'll be even more amazing than those at your last house soon! Can't wait to see pics next bloom season!

Please, please reach out to me if you have any advice that you wish you'd had when starting the move from one garden to another, would really appreciate it!

Liz, thank you for your kind words! I also want to wish you all the best with getting your plants moved to AL!

I wish you were closer, so that I could give you all of the grow bags that I've emptied so far.

One piece of advice that I'd like to share is to fold the sides of the bags down once you get the plants to AL. This makes it easier for them to get watered when it rains.

For potting the plants I used Staygreen potting soil, and added composted manure and some bulb food to the soil. For the Itohs and herbaceous peonies, I planted them with the pips 1-2 inches below the soil. The tree peonies were planted deeply.

For replanting, I try to not disturb the rootball too much, as I peel the bags away from the roots, unless I was cleaning up any dead roots.

Since I've started the replanting process, I've been adding soil conditioner, Epsom salt, composted manure, and bulb food to the planting holes.

Tree peony Banquet, that looked like a bunch of dead sticks when I planted it, has put out new pips.

I've been using planter's mix that I had on hand from doing new beds last year to fill the grow bags, was concerned that potting soil would stay too wet. Was that not an issue for you, Annette? I have to get more soil tomorrow since I completely leveled the pile I had with most of my Solaris order. Should I switch to potting soil or use garden soil in the bags? For planting in the ground I was hoping to be able to let them dry out a bit and maybe be able to slide the soil and root ball out without disturbing it too much, figured I could soak them in well as planting.