Sleeping Peonies?

Hi there. Jake the Farm Dog here. Well, it's still winter here on the farm. My sidekick, Rufus, and I are taking it pretty easy during this time of short days. Three or four times a day, we check outside, just in case another dog tries to sneak inside the perimeter of the farm's boundries. We go to the cache to see if any interesting smells have been deposited there, and we look for any moose that might be trying to get to the haystack and grain storage. Then its time to head back into the house to catch another nap. We don't even worry about the peonies.

Wayne and Patti say they're sleeping. I don't know how they would know this, because the beds are covered with about ten inches of ice and snow. Wayne says that's a good thing, I guess that he's right. Three winters ago, we had over twelve feet of snow! And the peonies emerged pretty well. Then last year . . . we had very little snow, and most of it went away. Wayne and Patti say that we lost about 1/8th of our peonies, and another 1/8th was stunted and did not produce well enough to even be harvested!

Sleeping peonies? Well, if so, we, here at Cool Cache Farms are hoping that they all awaken with the warming of spring. If things hold true to past years, we should be seeing the peony shoots somewhere aroung the 15th of May. Well that's all for now from us at Cool Cache Farms. Now where did Rufus put my blanket? I need a nap.