Hi All. Sorry to be so neglectful. I covered my entire almost year old bed with Buck Wheat ground cover, to try to make it a little more friable and add organic material. The peonies I brought from Alaska look awful. We have had horrible heat (85-95F) for a month or so. The herbaceous seem to be better off than the tree peonies. Does that follow here in Virginia (or close by). I am afraid I will lose all the TP's. Oat and field peas will follow BW as ground cover, and will winter die off. We have almost finished a fence all around to keep deer out. They don't touch the peonies, but eat about everything else. Fence posts are 8' with garden fencing 6'. If that doesn't work we will add another few feet up top. Lilies seem to do well though eaten down to stems by deer, they are still alive.
Damien leaves for Alaska for at least three months, returns for a visit, then back up for another three months. Somewhere in there we will define the garden bed rows for vegies and corner beds for flowers. I ordered six more peonies (all herbaceous or intersectional) last year. Kind of regretting it now.
