You say toe-may-toe. I say toe-MA-toe.

Paeoniaceae Paeonia Peonies are a recent addition in my life. I never saw them growing up. My mother never had any. So when my wife introduced me to them I was enamored. The old man who lived across the street from us grew them by the hundreds. He has since passed, but they still come up every year.

I was upended the other day when a coworker, a northerner, laughed at me when I was explaining about my Peonies. See, in the south, as far as I have ever heard, it was pronounced, Pea-OH-knees. My coworker told me that it was pronounced, Pea-oh-KNEES, with the emphasis on the knees part.

This had happened to me once before, no wait, twice before. Once we were at a small mom & pop type nursery. I asked the lady if she had any Cotoneaster, I pronounced it cotton-easter. She said, oh no, it is pronounced, Co-toe-knee-aster. Okay. The other was my neighbor, who seems to likes gardening, but really doesn't know much about it and also plants and then forgets. Literally. Anyway, I noticed that he had some Liriope near his porch. So I said, "I see you have some Liriope near your porch." What would you say? Anyway, I pronounced it "Li-ri-ope, extremely phonetically. He laughed and said it was Li-Ry-Oh-Pea. Head hung low, I left for my yard. My yard doesn't talk back to me. It doesn't correct me when I mispronounce something. I like my yard.

The first year after planting Peonies, you probably won't get any blooms. It takes a year or sometimes two before it produces. That said, these plants never fail after that, to provide you with large showy flowers that have a wonderful, rose-like sent. Cut them, and bring some inside to enjoy. Make sure you rinse them outside, as the ants, the guardians of the Peonies, will hitch a ride into your house. Peonies produce a nectar, which the ants like. They will defend the flower buds until they bloom from any and all creepy crawlies that would harm the buds. Pretty cool actually. They can live for many many years if taken care of. Feed them during the summer, so they will store the nutrients for next years blooms.