2013 Snow on Peonies

It is supposed to be 64 today, which is amazing since I took this snow picture a week ago today. It has actually snowed a couple of times this winter. Last winter there was no snow at all, and the weather was especially mild. Even my energy bill can tell the difference. I used 30% more electricity this winter compared to last year! Even with the warmer winter last year, we still had an excellent show of peony blooms in the spring. So I'm curious to see what the difference the extra cold will do this year. Peonies need the cold weather to form the blooms. If your winters are too warm (or your peonies are planted too deeply) they won't get enough chilling hours to generate a blooming cycle. So with the extra cool weather this year, the peonies here should have an abundance of blooms! I'm looking forward to it.
Peony 'Hillary' in the Snow