After they've flowered, just cut off the spent flowers and they may bloom again. If you don't cut them off, they won't flower again this season. That's really all you have to do.

Very pretty blooms! I bet that apricot-colored Foxglove will be beautiful next year too. Did you WS your Mexican Hat this year? I received some seeds of Ratibida columnifera in a trade but they didn't sprout. So I ordered a 3-pack from Bluestone during their sale and those are making small buds.

WOW! I like them all.I really like the green throats on 1 and 2. I would say of the three my fav is #2. WOW! Kimkats

Sally M., What I mean is that many of the nurseries have peonies as just red, white, & pink. I have seen several national & regional nurseries tell their customers what the customer wants to hear. Typical conversation someone comes in looking for the peony that their grandmother, aunt etc had. Rather than miss a sale of course what they have is what you want. Most of the red, white & pink types are grown by field operations which contract for a color not a variety. The nursery unless they grow their own or have a good supplier can not know what they are receiving from the supplier. Many times the supplier doen't know. The supplier is sent a crate?? box of small roots to be planted. They may or may not have a name on the box. As you said some not all small operations do value their reputation and will admit that they don't know what the peony will be. Some offer their customers the privelage to return the peony if it is not what the customer wants and honor their statement. Many will issue the same statement and never expect to honor it. How many gardeners actually can find their receipt from three years ago? The general time for a peony to produce mature flowers. If you are looking for a specific type,be it any of the colors,a nursery that goes to the effort to have the named cultivars rather than the generic is a better nursery to look for. With the use of computers and on line cataloges a prospective buyer can look on the web find a plant that is what they want or looks close to it, print the web page and take it to local nurseries to find what they want. Many of the older cultivars have disappeared and it may be unlikely that you will find one exactly like your memory but it is great fun looking. Who knows if someone in the family or a friend hears what you are looking for you may actually find the missing plant of your dreams. That said I am still looking for a dark red that has white or silver edging that was on my great-great garand uncle and aunts graves before the weed killer got it. The graves were from the mid 1920's so the plant would be after that date. The white was not a faded edge because as a in retrospect a bad child I took the blooms apart while waiting for the relatives to talk. If anyone has a suggestion please tell me.