Hello All: You have probably forgotten me or realized that I have no idea of most of the topics. I just wanted to say that I don't know very much about peonies but they were one of my grandmothers favorite plants when I was a little girl which was a very long time ago. I believe they attracted some type of bird and also butterflies. Does anyone know if this is true or was it a child's imagination. My home was Swarthmore, PA. at that time. Thanks folks > [Original Message] > From: Rodger Whitlock <totototo@pacificcoast.net> > To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Date: 7/30/2004 11:05:41 PM > Subject: [pbs] Peonies > > A couple of points: > > 1. Paeonia cambessedessi (and I may have miissssspellllllled that) > > No one has mentioned Paeonia cambessedessii from the Balearic > Islands. Those of you in warmer climates might give it a whirl. Dark > beet-red foliage overlain with a metallic cast; flowers of horrible > magenta, but scented of cloves. > > A small plant, admittedly, but worth treasuring. Here in Victoria, > it's too tender to overwinter without protection of a greenhouse. > > > 2. Peonies in Los Angeles > > I once read of an LA gardener whose success with an ordinary peony > made her the envy of her gardening friends. The secret? Every night > she and her husband would have a cocktail before dinner, and > afterwards she'd dump the ice cubes around the base of her peony. > Quite possibly an urban legend. > > > 3. Plants and Pests from China > > After reading about the removal of feeder roots from tree peonies to > hide nematode infestations, I suggest that gardeners boybott plants > imported from China. Socially, China continues to have a serious > problem with corruption, so Chinese phytosanitary certificates are > not worth the paper they're written on. With active measures being > taken to disguise the presence of pathogens, there's simply too much > risk of getting a serious pest into your garden from Chinese plants. > > Some years ago, the Canadian authorities put an absolute ban on plant > imports from China because of the prevalence of pests & disease, esp. > nematodes, notwithstanding phytosanitary certification. (I do not > know how long this ban was kept in force.) It is surprising that the > US, which has cracked down on seed imports, allows anything in the > way of plants to be imported from China. The latter, or so it seems > to me, presents much greater risks. > > Those of you who have already planted out Chinese material might do > well not to distribute plants from your gardens among your friends. > > -- > Rodger Whitlock > Victoria, British Columbia, Canada > Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate > > on beautiful Vancouver Island > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php