Spent another morning at the Simkins home. Vi was out today so we missed them both. Hubby and I spent a couple of hours removing peony roots from the back of the home. Still plenty left behind. And we removed a couple of yellow's that Vi said to take for myself. Loaded the trunk and a couple of buckets in the back seat. It's already 12pm and its sooooo hot. We packed up and headed home. I left a note in the door thanking them for the roots with my mailing address. Vi had said she wanted to send me some seeds if they were ready before they moved. She has also stated that she wanted me to come back if Sheridan didn't take any. I should hear from her in August or September.(or sooner if they sell)
Hubby and I arrived home at 12:30 cleaned up, had something to eat, relaxed for a bit.
Put the car in the garage with the trunk lid up to help the roots stay cool. Had a couple of blue boxes in the back in the shade. After a small break I headed into the yard to pot up some of the smaller roots and Hubby entertained his dad, who popped in with a 3 tiered plant stand he found and stayed for a beer.
About 5:10pm I came back inside to get dinner going and found hubby napping on the couch. Sat down to do some things on the computer and 20 minutes later we were eating left overs.
After the dinner cleanup we sat and talked for a bit and then loaded the car and headed off to PTG for the peony roots final resting place before identifying and shipping to CPS members. (They will grow here for a year or two) We arrived at PTG at 6:40pm and finished planting at 8:45pm. Alan gave me a row to put this batch into. We put in 61 roots and a couple of very young hosta plants. Stopped on the way out and took some pictures of the hemerocallis blooming in the front beds along the building.
We arrived home just as the sky started to open up, spitting little droplets but not quite making it rain. Put away a few things, loaded the washing machine and headed for the shower.

Time to put up our collective feet and relax for a few days. Hubby and I will be heading up to a friends cottage for a couple of days. We hear the lake is a balmy 28 deg C (81 deg F).

Arrived at the Simkins home at 9:45am. They were getting ready to go to the doctors, shopping etc. for the day. Left the back door open so we had access to the bathroom and water if needed. (Very trusting people)
We set off clearing the weeds from the back of the property. I checked for peonies and hand cleared anything around them, Hubby came by with the grass whipper clearing the rest. By 1:40pm we had the back porch, back of the property and one of the larger beds cleared of weeds. We had dug several roots (50) and loaded the car.
The Simkins arrived home about 1pm and were astonished at what had been accomplished. Mrs (Vi) Simkins took me on a tour of the front yard to show me a couple of roots she thinks I should have for myself. Sheridan if/when they come by are to take everything in the front but Vi would also like me to have a piece of a very large yellow tree, which she will have Sheridan split and leave a piece behind.
I thanked her for their generosity, and told them that we would be back tomorrow to finish the cleanup and dig up any of the others we could find and had the energy to dig.

When we got home we unloaded the car taking everything to the back in the shade, Hubby had a shower, and I headed for the greenhouse to pot up seedlings. Came inside had several cold drinks and sat for a few moments. Kids were both home and talking like crazy about what was going on with them.
We had dinner, hubby ordered pizza, then loaded the car with the roots and headed for PTG to plant. We put in 67 roots after dividing some of the larger ones into a row close to other peonies. I will let Alan know and ask for another row in the block for the load that will be brought up tomorrow. We finished planting and watered packing it up by 9:10pm.
Finally, home for the evening I showered and sat down to check my email,blog etc. then at 10:30 crawled into bed and watched a 1/2 hour of TV before slowly drifting off to do it all over again tomorrow. Thanks to hubby for all the help and taking time off work to be there for me.

Meeting the Founder of CPS

Mr & Mrs John Simkins

Mr Simkins (John) is one of the founding members of the Canadian Peony Society. Hubby and I were given the opportunity to meet the man and his wife. We arrived at their home at 2:20pm and Mrs. Simkins (Vi) was at the door to greet us. She gave us the grand tour of their yard, showing hubby and I where the roots use to grow, the beehives use to be, the greenhouse stood here and so on.

John had a fall in the yard last week and couldn't get up. They had to call emergency services for help. He was okay but at 6 foot something John is not an easy man to maneuver. Vi is extremely concerned, as anyone would be when you have past 90 years of age, celebrating their 64th Wedding Anniversary next month and still living in their home. They have some outside help for John but family and friends have now convinced them it is time to look for other living arrangements. All of this means that over the last little while they have been giving peonies away to various groups. The church took most of the backyard in 2008 & 2009 to sell at spring plant sales. A few friends received specific plants, their children (a son and daughter)have or will receive a few roots, Sheridan Nurseries will be taking the front yard. John tells me that Sheridan worked in conjunction with John on the hybridizing project supplying land to grow them. When I called several weeks ago to find out how they were and if the CPS Root Sale could acquire anything, Val Hosty made the trip to find out, I was told that we could have anything from the front so I had Val take some pictures of anything that was still blooming. When I called and set up a time to come by Vi informed me that we could have anything we could find still growing in the back or left behind. The yard had become overgrown and would need a keen eye to find them but that shouldn't be a problem. We arrived with garden tools in tow with the intent of helping her weed and tidy up, to take stalk of what we might be able to have and to tag for later pick up. Hubby and I started clearing a lot of weeds and overgrown plants finding little treasures at almost every turn. 45 minutes into the work the sky thumped and turned black and after a quick clean up, putting everything into the car and closing the windows, the sky opened up dumping buckets of rain in an instant. We said goodbye to the Simkins making a promise to back later in the week to help more. This time we will bring buckets, bags and anything else we can think of to make the work a little more pleasant.