My brother planted peonies here 40+ years ago & I've added quite a few myself over the years. I've never done anything to them since moving here in 2005. The foliage gets discolored late in the growing season sometimes but I've never treated it and the plants just keep coming back every year with zero help from me. Since they also bloom heavily, I figure they're healthy and don't need my help. I put peony rings around my baptisia to prevent flopping. They're perennials that are just really worth having in my garden beds--I have four. Like peonies, they need zero attention from me other than the peony rings for support and I leave those year-round. I do nothing either to or for my baptisias. They have incredible taproots so never need watering. The foliage remains lovely right through the growing season and once the weather cools they naturally go dormant. Basically all I do is enjoy them. According to Perennials for Every Purpose by Larry Hodgson, baptisias grow 3-4 ft. tall and 3-4 ft. wide. I've had mine for a number of years and that's been my experience with each of the four I have planted. I don't know where you're located but don't guess yours will exceed those measurements. Peonies can suffer from something called botrytis blight. I Googled it and found a picture on the Missouri Botanical Garden website (see link). Judging by the photo, your plants don't have it. Sorry: I don't grow kiwi vine so can't help with that. An established perennial garden generally shouldn't require a great deal of maintenance unless it includes roses. Mine doesn't for that very reason--I purposely have no roses in my garden. Here is a link that might be useful: Botrytis blight

I heard deer don't like blackberries, and they aren't the most beautiful thing on the planet, but they do give you fruit, and they have thorns! I know this is a dumb suggestion and so NOT what you want. Maybe look for something with thorns. Bougainvillea have killer thorns, and come in all colors but they grow where it doesn't freeze, so I don't think they would live where you do. Aside from that, roses have thorns and deer eat them, so maybe deer just don't like blackberries! Many of my buddies in other states grow grapevines, and deer love those, so they hang bar soap on the vines. It keeps the deer away. Maybe put a bunch of bar soap around. Try that! Good luck! Suzi

You may want to post this in the California forum here on Gardenweb; I would bet that there are people posting there who have dealt with the same problem, and not everyone checks every forum.

I love a very full, cottage look, so I tend to actively seed poppies in areas I know will be more densely planted come spring. I loved how the poppies emerged from drifts of Jupiter's Beard, Statice, Lomandra in shadier spots, and some other plants in the front yard. It helped limit the sight of the lanky plants certainly. Amidst the roses that are grown in a more traditional way, the poppies stand out like sore thumbs. However, I love the flowers and it's not a public rose garden, ha. I can grow lanky poppies and not feel one bit worse for it. I tried some of the 'Erewhon' and 'Blue Shift' Sweet Peas from Annies in that area this year and they were beautiful! Great cut flowers. It's probably a bit cooler here though. I had them on lattice amidst other climbers. 'Jeri Jennings' is next to some volunteer dark purple sweet peas. The picture above shows some sweet pea foliage, but the flowers mostly finished before 'Jeri' started blooming recently. Right now I've got Nigella springing up in an area that is almost exclusively populated by succulent/drought tolerant plants. It's a strange look, but fun until I consider that I'll need serious gauntlets to rip out the dead Nigella soon. Puya are amazing until you weed around them and I'm mostly growing the smaller types like P. mirabilis and alpestris. A lot like roses actually!