A Gardener's Diary

I have two different types of peonies in my gardens. Up around the back of the main house, I have the typical peonies that I remember as a child — massively ruffled in white, pink and magenta.

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As much as I love these peonies, they are not a great pollinator flower. The ruffles are so dense that it is difficult for any pollinator to get to the pollen, unless… one waits until they are fully opened and fairly past their prime. Some pollen does remain, enough for the bees to visit!

Now, along the entry to the guest house, I planted many single-ruffle, white “cottage” peonies.

They are delightful, and the bees flock to them.

I call them “cottage” because they remind me of flowers that one would see tucked along a wall of a cottage or manor house set in the Cotswolds. Since their numbers have increased (they drop seeds, which is the best! way to propagate) I can watch this sea of white with yellow insides swaying together on a breeze. It is entrancing. Alongside these peonies is catmint — a bushy, lavender stalked flower that blooms from May to September. Every type of pollinator loves catmint — all manor of bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, even finches queue up to grab nectar and seeds.

Just last year, and again this year, I noticed something among these white, open, airy peonies — pink. Yes, I said “pink.” A pink cottage-style peony with a more ruffled petal.

Are we thinking the same thing? Cross pollination.

I was beside myself. It is the most beautiful pink I have seen in a flower — a flush of color, like a genteel young woman who has just received a complement, eyes downward, a soft pink to her cheeks. So innocent.

Standing outnumbered among the white, they cannot be missed.

Science right in my backyard! Let’s keep the pollinators happy — plant flowers, stay organic, be patient and watch the magic happen!

#pollinators #gardening #landscaping #peonies