gardening Archives - Keeping With The Times

Tip for Preserving Fresh Peonies for Weeks

Snip a few peony stems while still in the bud stage, making sure there is some colour showing (as in the following image)

Slip them into a plastic bag and tie it closed (no water necessary.) Again no water, no paper towels nothing … nada!

Place the bag in the vegetable crisper in the refrigerator and forget about it for a while

Preserving Fresh Peonies, Keeping With the Times

When you’re ready for a fresh bouquet:

remove from fridge

snip end of stem

place in water

The blooms will open within a day! I’ll warn you that they don’t last long, perhaps a day or two depending on how long you stored them, but they are still beautiful.

When I finally removed mine from the fridge, it was near the end of August (and I had picked them in June!) I was quite doubtful it would work … but … here’s the proof:

Peonies in August

Peonies in October

Peonies in October

I’d love to know if you try this, and how it works for you! and please pin my image if you like :)

Extend Peony Bloom Time, Keeping With the Times

Thanks for stopping by!

If you enjoyed this post, you make enjoy these:

: Top 5 Perennials for Partial Shade

: Backyard Bouquets

: Easy Floral Arranging Tips

: A Different Kind of Power

: 30 Ideas to Make June Magical

Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs, and while it’s quite easy to grow, I have a few tips on how to care for a fresh rosemary plant.

When I first bring a rosemary plant home from the greenhouse, I like to transplant it into a slightly larger pot that has good drainage holes. That way it has plenty of room to put down a sturdy root system during the summer. When I bring it in for the winter, I may repot once again, as hopefully it will have grown quite a bit.

Rosemary is a tender evergreen perennial grown as an annual in most areas of Canada. It loves full sun, tolerates shade and does very well in containers. It prefers light, well-drained soil.

So here’s the “down and dirty” part. If you want to keep your plant as healthy as possible for as long as possible, this is what I would recommend.

How to Care for a Fresh Rosemary Plant*

Remove your new rosemary plant from pot and if it seems potbound, pinch the roots to loosen, and stimulate growth
Choose a new, larger pot, with good drainage
Rosemary does not like to dry out, but it does not like to stand in water either, so place something on the bottom to help increase drainage even more—I used a plastic liner from one of my summer pots
Put soil in the bottom of the pot
Place the plant inside, then pour more soil down the sides, pressing down as you go until the soil reaches the top, making sure you don’t cover the top of the root ball
Water rosemary when the soil at the top feels dry
I like to either mist or spray the top of the plant quite regularly. It keeps spider mites at bay, and also revitalizes it
Having said this – most experts will tell you powdery mildew is a problem with rosemary, so make sure there is lots of airflow around the plant

This also works well on the large topiary plants available around Christmas-time.