Peony time, oh yes. Here my first peony to bloom was 'Mollis', ephemeral but lovely, and now the tree peonies are in bloom to be followed later by the herbaceous peonies. I have a notion the Officinalis varieties precede the Lactiflora peonies. And P. peregrina is flaunting its lone fire red bloom at the moment. Our bloom times may be odd compared to a normal year, though: I know the tree peonies in town bloomed well before mine did. I suppose all my tree peonies are common kinds, they come from the big commercial nurseries, but they're wonderful. I just wish the nurseries would assign them their proper names--sometimes they do, sometimes they don't--so I can relate what I have growing in the garden to what I read in books. Paula, I do like you do, add one or two every year. And I'm interested in those intersectional peonies, too: who couldn't be? Suzy, is your P. delavayii luteus possibly what my book calls P. lutea var. ludlowii? It sounds like a wonderful plant. Both times rust has struck here has been during a prolonged wet period in middle-late spring when temperatures are warm. Our usual weather pattern is that as temperatures rise, precipitation diminishes (this is why we can live without a dryer), but there is the occasional anomalous weather. DH read in the paper yesterday that this has been the wettest spring ever recorded in Piacenza since they began keeping records back in the 1860s. The winter rainfall was triple that of an average year. I went and checked one of the rolled-up leaves: no larvae. I think it's fungal. Poor 'Vanity' has every single leaf rolled up. Yesterday was glorious and I looked up now and then from my work to admire the garden. DH has been mowing the last couple of days. He got most of the paths, and by the time he was done the garden looked like a garden. Corners of it were pretty lovely, too. The rain came back last night. My first roses to bloom are usually R. hugonis and 'Sanguinea', then a gaggle of Chinas and Teas get going along with the Banksiaes and R. foetida. 'Souv. de St. Anne's' has been blooming, too--facing the wrong way so I can't see it--and yesterday I cut the first flower of 'Gloire des Mousseuses'/'Mme. Louis Leveque'. The bloom was four inches across and full of folded petals. The flowers and plants of this variety always remind me of a tightly corseted Edwardian beauty, very robust, and beautiful. I like a lot of flowering weeds, too, and they make the bees and other pollinating insects very happy.

Desirae, I pick only the male blossoms( they only bloom for one day before falling off anyway) early in the morning and put them in a cooler to let the bees and bugs escape. I then put them in a Ziplock and into the fridge. They will keep for several days. Winter squash and pumpkins make the best blossoms. I'll advertise them on my mailings, and I have agreement w/my restaurant for anywhere from 500-1200 per week, depending on demand. I'll also take a few to the market and sell them there. My fruit production has never been hurt by harvesting all those males either. If you are going to the effort of planting asparagus for sales, I would advise going w/roots and the all male varieties. The long term production from them is significantly greater. The purple variety is impressive too. You'll get huge stalks, a lot of them, and it's recommended they be planted closer together. Planting seeds means you don't know what the plants have crossed with and you'll likely get a preponderous number of females, which expend a lot of energy making seeds rather than stalks. Actually, you'll still get roughly 25% females w/the supposed "all male" varieties as it is. There are some places you can get good roots at a great price--ie Simmons in Ark and DeBruyn in Mich.

Sounds a lot like the crew at the hospital where I get dialysis- 2 needles a day, three days a wqeek = 6 a week, = 312 a year, I've been on dialysis over 3 years so I must be up to one thousand. I don't have nicknames. The first week, the technician (I'll call him Mark, his real name). The first time he stuck a needle in my arm, it went through the vein and out the other side . Very painful, I screamed and had a bruise for weeks. After that, I only let nurses touch me, not any technicians. But there was one "tech" who helped me. His name was Stan, he was a very good looking, funny, black guy. He got the needles in without pain. Then another, paul, a big fat guy who was very friendly and we'd chat about our dogs, cooking, gardening, you name it. Paul became my favorite. If he was on the floor when i arrived for dialysis, I'd request him. But just a few weeks ago he got promoted and left. He now works in the operating room upstairs. I see him once in a while in the hallways or elevator and he always talks to me. My least favorite is a nurse named Diane. Once during dialysis, she grabbed my arm and squeezed, the needle popped out and blood ran all over. Another time, I was feeling very bad, I called out to her. She said I was becoming "cyanotic and toxic". I was blue and cold and thought I was going to die. She shut off the dialysis machine and warmed me up with hot water bottles. I think she saved my life. I did thank her. Takes all kinds.

Here are a couple of photos of mine. So far went through about 150 with these on deck. I think there is about 100+ in these photos. Also the plants show no sign of stopping. Very tasty tomatoes, Jersey boy, Summer Girl and Supersonic. I would have to say also my family says this was the best season yet. I only fertilized 1 or two times, but gona do it within a day or two to kick off the 2nd round (still 100+ Golfball size tomoes and many more pea sized ones). I am averaging to picking off 5-10 tomatoes that blush per day. I guess the one problem I am having is that I can not keep up with them, therefore gona make a bunch of sauce over the next few days so they don't go bad and make gazpocho soup and more Pico De Galla (Raw Salsa) to freeze.