Peonies reward the gardener with many long-lasting, fragrant blooms, says gardening writer JACKIE WARBURTON.

Peonies, which are in flower now, are long-lasting, flowering shrubs with beautiful fluffy blooms that are also gorgeous indoors in a vase. 

They’re an herbaceous perennial that dies down in autumn and remerges in spring. 

They like to be planted in the full sun and protected from the hot west winds. In the peak of summer, a little dappled shade will be needed.

These plants reward the gardener with many long-lasting, fragrant blooms. They like a rich soil and add plenty of compost and organic matter, plus a little dolomite lime, to keep the pH high. 

While they can take up to three years to flower, they’re worth the wait. 

The tree peony, which can grow into a small shrub, is another variety of peony that grows well in Canberra. 

Tree peonies lose their leaves in autumn and leave a woody stem and with herbaceous peony, all parts of the plant die off for the season. 

They are well suited to our climate as they need cold temperatures to initiate flowering in November. Herbaceous peonies are best planted in the autumn as bare-rooted rhizomes with a few buds and eyes.

Tree peonies are available in pots and can be planted any time. They can be expensive, but worth the wait. 

They like to be fed well with a fertiliser high in potash for flowering twice a year. Feeding is easy to remember – Anzac Day and Remembrance Day to keep them blooming. 

NOW the weather has warmed, the insects are around in abundance as well. 

The main pest for our roses are aphids that suck sap from the new flower buds, cause distortion in the petals and spread diseases. 

There are many insect sprays that will get rid of them, but by waiting for a few weeks, the parasitic wasp will find the aphids and biodiversity will be working without the use of pesticides. If there are no wasps around, they can be bought online. 

To keep aphids and other pest insects at bay, planting late winter/early spring flowering ground covers such as seaside daisy, veronicas and calendulas, under roses or in the vegetable patch will encourage the hoverflies, lady beetles to the garden and keep the aphid infestation under control.

Place several types of water bowls for the wildlife around the garden in dappled shade. They can be from bee baths, a bird drinking bowl or a shallow bowl for birds to bathe in. All bowls will need to be maintained due to stagnant water attracting mosquitos or add a drip of olive oil to the water bowl to keep the mosquitoes from breeding there. 

THE spring flower show for the Horticultural Society and Orchid Society of Canberra will be held at the Mallee Building, at EPIC over the weekend of September 21-22. It’s $5 to get in and is open from 10am until 4pm (Saturday) and 3pm (Sunday).

There will be show benches full of displays of spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and jonquils and flower sprigs of camellias.

It is a sight to see so many varieties of camellias on display with many forms on show such as singles, doubles and formal doubles and with all colours from white to pinks to reds. 

These shows are a terrific way to choose the flowers that you like, together with their names, and then go about sourcing these varieties for your own garden. 

The Horticultural Society has many members who will be there on the day to answer any gardening questions. 

There will be stalls selling plants such as cacti, succulents and carnivorous plants.

This show is in conjunction with the Canberra Orchid Society who will have a diversity of orchids, exotic and native, on display and for sale. 

My interest has increased in orchids as they seem to flower well for me indoors and are relatively easy to look after. My next challenge is to get my Stanhopea tigrina to flower.

Jottings

• Fertilise roses and lawns as the soil warms up. 

• Look out for greenhouse thrips on viburnum hedges. 

• Keep watering blueberries that are flowering now. 

• Continually pick broad beans to increase yield. 

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au