The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

I know the old saying: April showers bring May flowers. I also know we need showers month after month, but I don't like being held in the house by rain showers. It's May and I want to play outside.

I do want the rains but have never figured out the happy medium, as to when it is to rain when needed, so I can be outside. If it rains at night, it's muddy during the day.

Hmm, what to do? I suppose those rainy days are the times to look out the kitchen window while I dig into indoor chores.

Or, I can catch up on reading garden blogs and researching plants. That sounds good to this gardener.

I have found a lot of information when going online and looking up a plant. Just look into the product description on the site about the plant.

Following days of cool temperatures when I didn't want to play outside, I decided with my hubby that it is time to make some changes in the flower bed. We have prepared areas that have become a bit rogue (pretty but out of control) to move iris and peonies into.

We all have our own rules on moving perennials. When it comes to iris, I like to move them as they finish blooming and I still know their color. Hubby has the transplant spots ready for ours. The peonies will wait until fall, but their spots are also ready.

The iris and peonies started in our garden with pieces taken from our mothers' gardens and the peonies also, with additional bushes transplanted from the country homes we have lived at. There is also some beautiful fragrant light pink peonies a former co-worker dug for me. They originally came from a neighbor as I grew up and were in the co-worker's yard.

Iris aren't fussy when it comes to transplanting. Just remember to not plant them too deep. Their rhizomes rest close to the garden soil surface.

Now peonies are a different story. They have deep roots. So they are a bit more work. It is suggested that the ideal time to transplant them is fall when they are going dormant. Plan on digging deep and wide to carefully get their roots with as little harm as possible.

Have their new home ready with holes dug so the roots aren't exposed very long to the air. They can be divided with the clumps made smaller.

The peonies would appreciate a new home of compost, but really they aren't fussy. Remember to replant them not too deep, but not to shallow. The crown (bud) should be about two inches under soil. If you buy potted peonies to plant, just use the soil line on the pot they are in as your guide.

Though peonies may evoke a delicate, stately, never-ending style of beauty, they are survivors. Once during an extremely dry summer, as I worried about the peonies surviving, my mother-in-law reminded me that they would be fine. She referenced all the peonies in cemeteries that had lived for possibly hundreds of years with no special care. She was right. They endured and bloomed the following year and have ever since.

As perennial foliage keeps growing in my flower garden, I am anxious for the buds of iris to surprise me in the morning with their burst of colorful bloom and for the activity of ants as they snack on sap as the peonies unfurl to round puffs of beauty.

Oh, the spring garden. Who can ever resist a walk through one without clipping a bouquet?

The flowers I don't clip, I will just enjoy as I look out my kitchen window. Don't just look out your windows. Take time to walk in the outdoor world and breath in the fresh air we have been blessed with. It will lift your mood and make memories for the days when the moisture keeps us indoors.