I'm glad you brought this up, Gail. I have all well-established herbaceous ones, and while the plants themselves look vigorous, and the stems are thick, there are fewer blooms than in the past.

We have had a tough winter, but nothing can compare with last year when everything was in bloom, including peonies in bud, when the temps dipped to 17 degrees for six hours. Everything in bloom was lost, peonies, fruit, you name it. Records say it was the first time in 35 years.

But the peonies came back stronger than ever this year, just fewer blooms. I'm blaming last year's weather. I have seen nothing specific on the plants or buds. Ants are happily doing their work. Wish I had more observations for you, but I'm glad you asked.

Thanks, Aulani. We had that freeze last year also, zapping everything that was awake. Didn't occur to me that it might be related to this year's changes. But I can't say that my peonies have come back stronger, if not as bloomy--but perhaps it's too early to tell. So I'll wait--what else to do?