My favorites with peonies, mid to late season, are Rocky Mountain Blue Penstemon. The leaves are low mounding with pretty blue flower stalks appx 18-24 inches high. I think spiky flowers look great with peonies. Another that is beautiful in pictures is false indigo. It's slower growing but looks amazing with peonies from the pics other peony growers posted last year but it's slower growing. The penstemon can be wintersowed from seed and will bloom 2nd year, possibly a small flush of blooms 1st year if you start them early enough.

LizinElizabeth, that RMB penstemon is beautiful! Great suggestion! I'm also considering some different grasses - Black Mondo, Japanese bloodgrass, etc.

I haven't done any winter sowing before - Would I sow the penstemon seeds now? Directly in the bed or in pots to start?

I posted a bunch of photos on this thread:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/peony/msg0910432932554.html?16

I really like hakonechloa grass with my Julia Rose.
:)

Hi Jackie

Those pics are beautiful, and I do love your bed design. I was looking at hakenochloa as well - nice to see/hear your experience with it! And it grows well for you in zone 5/6?

Thanks!

redwolfdoc, wintersowing is ridiculously easy but probably don't want to start until after winter solstice. It works best with perennials that are hardy in your area and negates the need to manually stratify any seeds that require that process, nature takes care of it. Easiest way I've found is to collect a few gallon milk jugs, punch holes in the bottom and slit horizontally across the front and sides, leaving a bit attached around the handle. Put several inches of potting soil down and pack it and plant whatever seed you want to wintersow, covering the seed or not depending on the depth suggested by the packet. Tape that slit closed and put the jugs outside with the screw-on lid off. The container will get rained and snowed on, soil will and should freeze most of the time. If you have a long dry spell you'll probably want put the containers in a larger container with water in it, it will suck up moisture through the holes you provide. You should see tiny seedlings emerge around the time most spring bulbs and peonies come up in your area, maybe a bit later. We have crazy spring weather here in CO with late freezes, teen temps and such, so I put mine on our raised, covered deck so they stay colder longer and slightly shaded to keep them from sprouting before the end of winter here, if you have really sunny, warm springs you might want to shade them, too. the jugs act as mini greenhouses so they can bake if they get too warm. Remove the tape and pull back the tops when it warms in spring.
There is a wintersowing forum on Garden Web, they're a bunch of supportive gardeners just like the peony forum and you can get a lot of helpful tips there if you want to try it. I've found the seedlings produced this way are much hardier than any I've managed by grow lights indoors or by mail order and are already hardened off by the process, don't have to baby them as much as nursery seedlings. Good luck, maybe talk to you on the Wintersowing forum, too!

Jackie_o, your garden is gorgeous! Hope you post many new pics when it starts to bloom this year and give us an update on your Chateau CharMorron tree peony; if your experience stays as positive as it started out I'll order some from them next fall. I ordered several herbaceous peonies from them and was certainly pleased by the health and size of the roots, looking forward to (hopefully!) seeing blooms from them this spring!