I'm with you, graycrna4u, peonies are the one flower I can't walk by without stopping to admire! I do like other flowers but I find myself thinking of how they'll look next to my peonies when I buy them! I also tend to post pictures of close-ups of my peonies when they bloom so anyone looking at most of my pics would assume I have peony only beds. I actually grow a lot of daylilies, really like the spider and more unusual bloom shapes. I'm starting to get into irises and absolutely love penstemons and agastaches because they start blooming early summer and go until frost. I have quite a few spring bulbs but that is more a frustration in feeding the deer than a pleasure! Joe Pye weed is another one that I like a lot, I have a large standard and a chocolate one with white blooms. I'm trying to grow goatsbeard--funny some say it's next to invasive but it's not gotten even large enough to bloom in the 3 years I've had mine. I still struggle to grow astilbe, too--it's really too dry here for it to do well, though. I have 40 or more varieties of lilies and plant out gladioli early May, coming up soon. That's the only one that I dig and replant every year, think it looks really pretty next to the peony foliage when it blooms. I planted some roses last spring but don't have a lot of faith that they'll come back this year since I'm hopeless at growing them!
Annette, I must've missed the color echo thread. I saw the term when you mentioned it in another post and was wondering what it was! Would you explain? Or direct me to the thread you mentioned?
And Karen, Grandma had the greenest thumb of anyone I know! I don't think she ever saw a peony; growing up in lower Arkansas then living in central Texas they weren't common at all. I know she would've loved them if she'd seen them, though.
