During the months of May and June one of the all-time favorite plants of local gardeners, the peony, is bursting into bloom. There are many excellent peonies available to utilize in our landscapes; including herbaceous cottage types in all sorts of colors (and varying fragrances) and larger growing tree peonies too. I would never scold anyone for growing either of these types (since I do as well), but I want to bring attention to another fabulous peony option… what is known as the intersectional or Itoh Peony.


Now that we are into the heat of the PNW summer, I thought it would be fun to delve into the world of Hibiscus. When most gardeners close their eyes and think of the word Hibiscus, I would be curious to see what picture comes to mind. There are hundreds of…