Diseased Peony - is it Botyrtis?

[Himanshu]

First time gardener, and things were going well till about a month or so ago when I noticed that one of the two peonies planted this spring had some white/gray substance on the leaves. It's been spreading all over the plant. Can anyone confirm that it is Botrytis? Here are some pictures

on the thumbnails to get larger images. In one of the pictures there's a remnant of a flower with four seed pods or something. I didn't know if I should deadhead that part or no? Other flowers on the plant did not leave anything like that behind.

There's another Peony next to this (not pictured) that hasn't yet got this disease. Somehow I didn't record which plant was which, but one of the two is 'Monsiuer Jules ...' and the other is 'Karl Rosenfeld' both obtained from a reputed local nursery.

Anyway, what should be the treatment for this now? Should I apply something and/or cut off everything on the plant that has the disease (which won't leave much at this point).

Thanks for your advice,

-- Himanshu

[Ann]

Himanshu expounded:

Don't worry about it, it's cosmetically ugly but won't hurt the plant. Cut it back this fall and get rid of the foliage (don't compost it, generally speaking, I always toss the peony foliage. Not worth the chance of spreading anything; powdery mildew happens when it's particularly dry and hot out). You may or may not get it back next summer, but it won't hurt anything.

[FarmI]

Spray it with milk mixed at a rate of 1 part milk to 9 parts water. Use real milk not UHT or low fat.