Tried a couple of the western redbuds once upon a time - my ex fell in love with them on a drive down to the Bay area one May. One succumbed to verticillium wilt within the year; the second one struggled for a couple of years longer then finally gave up. I've been in the nursery biz here for the past 20 years or so and western redbuds have never been very common.....in fact I can't think of more than a couple of times I have ever seen them available locally. If I'd have to pick a redbud for this area, I'd go with Cercis chinensis 'Avondale' - for the most part, Asian species seem to do quite well in our mild, damp climate.

I am only a little behind. We didn't have any hard frost until friday before last weekend. I pulled the frosted tomatoes on Sunday last weekend. I did do some trimming of perennial plants, sedum, asters, the Sweet Autumn Clematis on the trellis. The Clematis catches all the wind, so I cut the top off where it climbs up over the trellis, so the whole thing doesn't blow over. I just remove everything above 4ft., must have taken off 25 pounds of vine and leaves. I tried leaving the tops up last year, watched the sedum turn into mush after freezing. Asters fell over with snow on them. I was out trimming them all off in January cold!! I took off all the Lily stems too, also get mushy in cold. Peonies got cut early, I was right there so I cut foliage off while still green. My leaf shredder has done a pretty fair job, reduced all my leaves down to about 4 bags so far. Sure does make a huge pile of leaves into nothing. I still have the backyard to rake up, hoping for a couple bags of shreds from there. I also have some Oaks, they make the best shreds, don't get mushy, even wet. Most of their leaves fall in Spring, when new leaves push them off. Our other leaves also have been very slow to fall. The Japanese Maple is just starting, so is the sweet cherry. We also have had the hard wind, couldn't pile the leaves up! I will put some shreds on the garden during the next shredding session, but plan to save most for use on the big bed next spring. Total shred mulch over newspaper, over soaker hoses, for keeping the weeds down. Works pretty well. I managed to resist buying bulbs, there is no place to plant them unless I put them in the lawn. I still have some Petunias that won't give up, some plants in pots that have blooms. My newest Delphinium is blooming! I am shocked it has not frozen, but it continues to open up the stalk. Determined to set seed I guess. Quite pretty in dark purple. The roses are sending out new growth, some with buds coming. Even with seed hips, they keep coming along. Husband had the guys over to trim the Oaks. Removed a number of dead limbs, trimmed branches too big over the house. The trimming we did last year really made the tree perk up, lots of new growth. Hoping for the same with these. I am trying to think of it as healthy pruning, but most of the branches were pretty large, still had to come off. Did fill the wood pile back up, have a brush pile for a weenie roast! Have been watering the new trees and shrubs (on sale stuff) fairly often. We get misty rain, no real quantity. All the willows still have leaves, cottonwoods leaves are gone. Sweet gum still has leaves, as do the small Burr Oaks. I am taking this as a good sign, no wilting or dried up leaves like dead trees have. I think they like their new homes. New grass around them looks GREAT. Got the seed in at the right time, nice rain and sun. I am doing a little more trimming as I walk around. Fish pond is netted, looks nice. No fish feeding until spring. No visible frogs either, FINALLY seem to have dug themselves into the mud. Had one all last winter that would NOT hibernate, kept turning up every time I did something near the pond. I have actually been doing most of my outside stuff around the barn, cleaning up and putting away to make chores easier. New working lightbulbs in all fixtures! Darn short days.

Peonies like to be planted about 1-2 inches below the top of the ground surface. It maybe that you're using too much nitrogen based fertilizers, which gives you more foliage than bloom. If the peonies are 10+ years, it is best to divide them at that point (more peonies!) cutting away all the feeder roots from the storage root. Let it dry out about a day or 2 so it will not rot or develope a fungus, then replant it with the eyes pointing upwards, amending the soil with bone meal, fish meal, aged and well-rotted manure, compost, blood meal, alfalfa meal etc. A combination of all above or 1 or 2 of them...... mostly a hand full of bone meal. Make sure you have a high middle number. Peonies normally prefer organic fertilizers, however, in the spring you can put a "bulb" fertilizer of about 10 10 10 " or a seaweed or fish based fertilizer about 1/2 foot away and around the crown of the peony. Most of the time, manures dumped onto the top of the your peony causes the crown to rot. Some people some times even dump rabbit manure on top of them but it is not a good practice. Too much fertilizer will cause it not to bloom also. Lastly;.... in a few of the northern areas, peonies are normally planted or moved in or after September unless they are potted prior. Then you can plant them any time. So, I recommend that you look at some of the websites such as songsparrow.com, ADpeonies.com or hollingsworthpeonies.com etc. They sometimes offer planting info and diagrams. Find a nice sunny place forr it....they normally do not like to be moved once established. It gets pretty deep as the years go on. It grows 10 + years. Good Luck! P.S. I apologize if I explained with too much detail but I can't imagine losing any of those precious jewels!

Thanks Norm....I always enjoy reading your posts....I really think it would stress them out to move them just as they're beginning to bloom...having to literally burn the candle at both ends. I may move a few plants now just to see how they do and leave the rest until September. I already had a couple of nice plants; an unknown double pink (which was a pass-along plant from my dear Aunt and is at least 30-35 yrs old); and a 'Bowl of Beauty' that took several years before a I got blooms, but it now blooms prolifically. I've since added two tree-peonies and three unknowns. I can't wait to see them bloom. --Terry