Peony Done!

I am sad to report that after some rain, my peony flowers all faded and petals all over the ground! =( They were gorgeous, but they didn't last too long! Well, the only thing I can do now is picking up the petals and hoping for more next year.

Now the peony is done, I am looking forward to see my lovely asiatic lilies. They are budding nicely again, and I am sure it will be another amazing show like last year. When I planted the peony, I wanted the whole flowerbed (2.5ft by 6ft) to be a perennial bed. I wanted flowers and colors throughout the growing season, and I wanted them to be very low maintenance. I planted the peony bareroot in the center, then some daffodils and asiatic lilies around it. Some sedums (started from seeds) in the front, and two different kinds of daylilies on either side of the sedums. Some iris in the far left corner, and two mums on the right side. I left the lower left corner empty for some annuals, also I wanted to allow the iris to expend that way. So far, I am very satisfied with the result. Everything look very healthy, and they bloomed one right after another. I just need to watch out for the strawberry plants from the next bed, as they love to run over and steal space.

Talking about strawberries, I have been picking them everyday for the last week. Oh, they are soooooo good! Little caterpillar loves them, even though she thinks they are sour (I don't think so) and gave us the funny faces every time, she still asks for more. So, I give her a couple of fresh ones every evening, and freeze up the rest for later. These are all organic, and fully ripe, way better than the ones you get from grocery store, huge but hard and tasteless. But yesterday, I got much less than I supposed to. A mockingbird came everyday to enjoy the sweet fruit, but normally she just destroy a couple. I think she probably brought all her friends and family over yesterday, as I found more than 10 big strawberries were eaten. They are smart enough to eat only the red side, leaving the white/pink side behind. Smart birds! Guess I just have to tolerate that and share my strawberries with nature. I saw the bunny nearby yesterday as well, if he found it, the whole bed would be gone.