That is great info, Mary(pistil)! Thank you! I think it is best that people garden according to what is available to them locally. If Azomite is not readily available in your area, I don't think it is a big loss to the peonies if you do not apply it. If you regularly apply compost and other organic materials to the plants with adequate watering, I think they will be pretty happy. An annual fertilizer application would certainly be helpful. This is esp true with a once blooming perennial like peonies. Though with roses, I think they definitely need at least two fertilizer applications a year for the roses to bloom well. Roses seem to me require alot of food to bloom continuously throughout the growing season.
Liz, I really can't tell you how far they have to be spaced so that the control group doesn't get some benefits from the azomite. Perhaps, if you place the control group on the higher end of the sloped bed so the azomite can't leach up? Sorry, can't offer you much help here.
