I know I’ve mentioned it here before, but for those of you who don’t know, I have a cutting garden out behind our carriage house.

A cutting garden is full of plants grown specifically for harvesting fresh flowers for arrangements.  It’s usually in an inconspicuous place where it won’t matter if you cut all of the blooms off of your plants (hence, behind the carriage house which is the big red, barn-like building in the photo below).  It’s really just a good place to grow things that don’t look that great in the garden except when they are in bloom, like peonies.

I know, I know, some people think that peonies are pretty plants even when not in bloom, but I don’t.  And they only bloom for maybe two weeks tops.  Plus, mine always end up with powdery mildew by the end of July and then really start to look terrible.  So I’m happy to have them tucked away out of sight.

There are really only two periods in the growing season when my cutting garden looks good.  One of them is later in the summer when the huge Annabelle hydrangea I have back there is blooming.

And the other was this past week or so while the peonies and Siberian iris were blooming.

Somehow, this year it looked particularly fabulous, but I’m not sure why.  Maybe just because everything back there is firmly established now and can pretty much be left alone.

The Siberian iris are super tall, and full of flowers.  Last year I got relatively few flowers, this year it’s loaded.

I am hoping you can sort of judge the size of them in this next photo.

That is them on the left, then I have a white peony in the middle and the big mass on the right is the Annabelle hydrangea.  That thing has gotten huge this year as well.

The peonies back there all did really well this year too.

Another thing you can see in if you look closely at my photos is that I barely bother to weed back there.  Mr. Q and I usually go through once or twice a year and pull out the big weeds but we haven’t done that yet this year.  So far it doesn’t seem to be impacting the plants.

I have two top favorites amongst my peonies.  The first is this one …

It’s the most beautifully pale, blush pink in the center that gradually turns white towards the edges.  I love how delicate the color is.  I’m fairly sure that this one is called Raspberry Sundae, but don’t quote me on that.

Then, in direct contrast, my other favorite is this one.

The color on that one is so vibrant that my camera doesn’t even know what to do with it.  It ends up almost looking fake.  It practically glows out in the garden.

I’ve come to realize lately that I much prefer the double peonies over the singles.

Single peonies have one or more rows of the larger petals, known as guards, or guard petals, surrounding a center of stamens.

I currently have two single peonies; the one shown above and a bright pink one that I purchased without reading the fine print (I thought it was a double).

They look surprisingly like a tulip before they open …

But once they open up I don’t particularly like them.

I’m planning to dig up both of my single peonies in September and give them to my neighbor, nnK.  FYI, September is the best time to move established peonies if you must.  But be warned that peonies do not like being moved and it will take them a couple of years to bounce back afterwards.

I much prefer the double peonies with their many layers of petals and relatively insignificant stamens.

I’ve decided that life is too short, and my garden space is too limited, to have plants that I don’t like in my garden, so once the single peonies have gone I’ll replace them with more doubles.

Since I’m sharing peony photos today, I just had to include this peony that I saw growing in a MacGrove alley during their neighborhood garage sales yesterday.

Isn’t that something with its pink guard petals, white inner petals and pink stamens?

There are so many incredible options to pick from out there!

Speaking of peonies, some of you may not have been following me back when I experimented with keeping unopened buds in the fridge for a few weeks (or a couple of months), and then taking them out to use in an arrangement.  It worked out great when I did it correctly and you can read all about that process here.

Then last year when I attempted to do this again I messed up.  I wrapped the buds in damp paper towels inside the ziploc bags, and I ended up with a gross, moldy mess.  So follow that first process that I linked above if you want to try it.

Rather than save any of my peonies this year, I decided to just enjoy all of them right away.

So I’ve been cutting them and bringing them in the house to enjoy their wonderful scent.

Unfortunately, peony season is short and most of mine are already done blooming.  There will be a few stragglers left here and there for a few more days, but that’s it.  I did my best to enjoy them while they lasted though.

How about you?  Do you grow peonies?  Do you have any favorite varieties that I should know about?  Leave a comment and let me know.