Peonies are perennial flowers with a long lifespan and huge spring blooms. Black, coral, cream, crimson, rosé, pink, purple, rose, scarlet, white, and yellow are some of the colors.
You can extend the blossoming period of peony by 6 to 8 weeks by planting early, mid-season, and late flowering types. Garden peonies (Paeonia valbiflora or Paeonia officinalis) and tree peonies are the two varieties of peonies growing in North Carolina (Paeonia suffruticosa). Herbaceous perennials with a height range of 20 to 36 inches, garden peonies can be divided into five categories based on the shape of their flowers: single, semidouble, double, Japanese, and anemone. On a shrub-like plant, tree peonies produce a vast number of flowers; the stems do not wither away annually.
Do peony grow in Raleigh, North Carolina?
A relatively cold-resistant plant, peonies can be planted in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 8. It is widely known to withstand USDA zone 3’s extreme cold and protracted winters in Alaska.
These gorgeously blooming plants prefer chilly regions and will do well there. These plants can tolerate any temperature. They need bitterly cold winters for their April blooms.
Peonies stop flowering when the temperature rises throughout the growing season since they prefer cool to mild conditions. Pick a peony variety that is known to thrive in North Carolina because the majority of peony cultivars cannot endure the summer heat there.
In North Carolina, the peony cultivars “Festiva Maxima” and “Sarah Bernhardt” are said to perform well.
Peonies will grow most strongly in spring and early summer before temperatures rise beyond the 70F (21C) threshold after spending the icy winters in hibernation and getting ready to blossom.
Peonies will bloom in North Carolina through mid-May. At this point, the summer heat begins to affect the blossoms. In the end, blooms will disappear by June.
Why Should Peonies be Planted in Fall in NC?
Early fall, which in North Carolina means September or October, is the ideal time to grow peonies. Only two times a year may peonies be planted in the ground without them dying. One of those two occasions is now.
The only other season to plant peonies that won’t result in their demise in a few weeks is in the spring. However, planting peonies in the spring is not at all advised.
Where can peony be found?
Now that you are aware of the distinctions between the two primary Peonies, let’s approach your choice based solely on the available information.
Location & Climate: If you reside in the extreme south or north, temperature and humidity may have a significant impact on your choice of peony.
Garden peonies will thrive if you are in a northern region with a shorter, cooler growing season. Garden Peonies are especially popular in Zones 3 through 8, where they may require a little more care.
- A tip for getting them to behave perfectly if you live in the deep south is to select an early-blooming type that will go into flower before the summer heat arrives.
- In the same way, a late-blooming Garden Peony is likely to succeed better in zone 3’s northernmost regions, where temperatures will have warmed up enough for it to flourish during their peak bloom period.
Available Sunlight: Unlike Itohs, which love dappled light and can even take part-sun, Garden Peonies require full sunlight. As a general rule, your garden will be exposed to more sun and humidity the further south you live. You should give your peony more room in hotter, brighter climates so they may receive more air circulation and perhaps a little less sun than usual.
Can peony be grown in eastern North Carolina?
Peony plants are surprisingly simple to grow and, with the right care, will continue to produce stunning, head-turning flowers for decades.
Peonies begin to bloom vigorously in North Carolina (zone 7b) after the first spring blooms of tulips and daffodils start to fade. Blooms begin in mid-April, pick up steam in May, and finally come to a close in June.
Finding a reliable source of bare roots is the first step in starting to grow peony. Ours is provided by Terra Ceia Farms, and the quality is outstanding. They appear as follows:
Festiva Maxima and Sarah Bernhardt appear to thrive in North Carolina’s hot and muggy climate, but there are so many great types that it’s difficult to decide. Planting your peony in the fall will give the roots the best chance to take root before spring. Mid-November is when I generally plant mine, but October is also acceptable!
The place you choose for your plants is crucial after you’ve made your selections and received your bare roots. They require a location with good drainage and at least 6 to 8 hours per day of direct sunlight. The soil pH should be approximately 6.5 for optimum growth, and keep them away from other large plants and trees (you don’t want anything shading the peony or competing with them for nutrients). If you’re in North Carolina, you can test your soil for free; otherwise, get in touch with your neighborhood extension office to learn how to test and amend your soil.
Now that you’ve found the ideal location, set the plants 3 to 4 feet apart, then dig a hole large enough for the roots of each plant. Put your root inside with the eyes facing up and a couple of inches of nutrient-rich soil or compost on the bottom. Cover so that the eyes are just one or two inches below the surface. The peony won’t blossom if you plant them deeper than 1″ below the surface, so I never do that!
Although I don’t fertilize, I do use mulch as a weed preventative. The peonies typically receive two applications of mulch each year: the first in the early spring when the plants are still young and the second in the later spring when they are larger.
For the first two to three years of a young plant’s life, I pinch off the flower buds in the early spring to prevent the plant from blossoming. This stimulates the plant to focus all of its energy on the roots and leaves, resulting in plants that are stronger and healthier. However, don’t worry—even if you miss a few buds on your young plants, they will still grow a flower or two.
Additionally, I take care not to overwater the plants. They require around one cup of water every week, and if it doesn’t rain, we water them from the roots to prevent getting the leaves overly moist, which can lead to illness.
30–50(!) flowers can be produced by a mature plant per plant. To ensure that each plant is robust and healthy for the following season, I never remove more than half of its blossoms. The peony patch is fragrant and lovely, and it is simple for them to pick the blooms and strip the leaves. The youngsters like helping with the harvest.
To keep our plants healthy, we frequently deadhead, remove any botrytis-infected leaves, and cut the plants down to the ground after the first severe frost, which for us often occurs in late October or early November.
Since we always have plants with botrytis, there is no need to be alarmed. I don’t spray anything on the plants, but I do make sure to regularly remove any leaves that are infected. The plants are OK the next spring once I prune them after the frost. Simply make sure to properly remove any unhealthy leaves and other waste from your garden and avoid using them as mulch or compost.
Harvest your peonies when they are in the “marshmallow stage” (soft to the touch, displaying some color, but not fully opened), and store them dry in your refrigerator or cooler if you want to keep them for a few months.
When the time is right for your peonies to bloom, remove them from the cooler, trim the stems again, place them in a vase, and place them in a warm, sunny location. They ought to be completely operational in a day!
For our early summer weddings, we use our peonies in floral arrangements, and we always have enough for Mother’s Day and our flower CSA.
When May brides come to tour the barn, we love to package up a handful of the fragrant blooms and give them to them!
What kind of climate do peony prefer?
Utilize the cold you have to your advantage by
- In zones 8 and higher, plant only an inch (2.5 cm) deep.
- Plant in a soil that is aerated and loose.
- Avoid mulching since it can prevent the plant from being fully chilled by the cold.
- Plants that face east will give shade in the afternoon.
- Before planting a peony in warm weather, prepare the soil.
- Choose cultivars with early blooms.
Can peony be grown in shade?
In the early 1980s, I threw a dinner party for a few friends when I first met Kasha. I gave her a tree peony blossom from my small garden at the end of the party in the hopes that it would inspire romance. It did. We started planning for our wedding and the peony garden we would create together shortly after that.
We looked for a suitable garden location for more than a year. This was nothing compared to our plant-finding expedition. We spent years writing to people and organizations in China because we specifically wanted to grow Chinese tree peonies that were not easily accessible in the United States. When we did locate someone, they insisted that we buy a large number of plants. We hurried to sell the remainder because we just wanted a handful of the top examples. However, over time, our love of tree peonies has grown into a full-time company.
Tree Peony Paeonia suffruticosa (Pay-own-ia suf-froot-i-cosa)
- a slow-growing, woody shrub with huge, silky blooms that grows 4 to 10 feet tall.
- USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 9-compatible (40F to 20F).
- Flowers thrive in three to four hours of light and partial shade.
- Plant on a hillside or in a raised bed with lots of organic debris if you want good drainage.
- Compost should be added to the soil, and in the spring, seaweed or fish emulsion should be sprayed onto the leaves.
Herbaceous peonies and tree peonies: Distinctly different plants
There are two primary varieties of peonies: herbaceous forms and tree forms. Herbaceous peonies have flowers that are 6 inches in diameter, grow to a height of 4 feet, and are simple to divide. They can produce 40 or more blossoms on a mature plant, and they do well in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 7 (30F to 0F). After the first cold, the majority die back to the ground after blooming in early to mid-June.
But the tree peony is a completely other kind of flower. Woody plants called tree peony can reach heights of 10 feet on their own. Their flowers are more bigger and typically bloom two weeks earlier than herbaceous peonies. They come in a wide variety of forms, colors, and perfumes. Even though they shed their leaves in the fall, they continue to have a lovely branching structure all winter long. In USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 9, tree peonies can be grown (40F to 20F).
Tree peonies prefer dappled shade and good drainage
Tree peonies require moderate shade with three to four hours of sunlight, as opposed to herbaceous peonies, which bloom best in full sunlight. In the light, plants develop more quickly, but blooms burn and wither within a couple of days. In order to promote plant growth, we occasionally plant tree peony in full sun. However, we shade the blossoms with a parasol or fabric umbrella, which rewards us with blooms that last a week to 10 days.
Tree peony require a location with good drainage, such a hillside; standing water will destroy them. Although they don’t have any preferences, a pH range of 6.5 to 7.0 is optimal.
Unlike herbaceous peonies, tree peonies require a rest period of several weeks with temperatures between 35F and 40F before blooming. They flourish as far south as Tuscaloosa, Alabama, because of this. They can withstand temperatures as low as 30F in the winter in southern Minnesota, where they are hardy.
Tree peonies: Diversity is their hallmark
Tree peonies are divided into Itoh, or intersectional hybrids, and Chinese, Japanese, European, and American hybrids. The species Paeonia suffruticosa is commonly regarded as the parent of tree peonies. Although peony taxonomy is a complicated topic, recent research suggests that Chinese tree peonies may possibly be hybrids of two or three species. Cultivar names are the easiest to understand and recognize in the nursery industry. The names “White Light in the Night,” “Amber Moon,” “Tiger Tiger,” “Necklace with Precious Pearls,” “Princess Zhao Marries Beyond the Great Wall,” “Intoxicated Celestial Peach,” “Coiled Dragon in the Mist Grasping a Purple Pearl,” “Great Winged Butterfly,” and “Taoist Stove Filled with Pills of Immortality” are simply delightful.
Since the Sui Dynasty in the seventh century, the Chinese tree peony, or mudan, has been the nation’s favorite flowering plant. In fact, others have compared its popularity to the tulip frenzy that swept over Holland in the 17th century.
We concur that the Chinese characterize the mudan blooms as velvety. While some blossoms have a diameter of a foot, the majority are 8 to 10 inches. The Chinese cultivars of tree peony have the most range. Flowers can be white, pink, red, magenta, maroon, violet, or multicolored. They can also be any shade of these hues. Some flower petals have frosted tips, while others have darker centers. The petals’ colors frequently morph before your eyes when light hits them, relaxing in the sunlight. Flowers with light yellow petals turn lavender as they transition from light yellow to white.
In general, flower shapes can be categorized as solitary, semidouble, or double. But there is a lot of variety even within these categories. The single, light semidouble, heavy semidouble, double, ruffled ball, thousand petal, crown, and rumpled forms have all grown on our plants. Additionally, flowers might be looking up, to the side, or downward. We think that everyone belongs in the garden.
The smells of many Chinese tree peony range from sweet to peppery and occasionally even woodsy. Grand Duke Dressed in Blue and Purple, one of our favorites, with an unfathomably wonderful perfume. Let’s simply say that the aroma of heaven would be similar to that of a candy store. We plant roughly 80 of the over 600 tree peony cultivars that the Chinese acknowledge in our Connecticut garden.
The tree peony was introduced to Japan by the Chinese as a medicinal plant in the eighth century. In the 17th century, it was once more presented to Japan, but this time for its beauty. Since the plants haven’t altered in the 400 years that have passed, we believe that many of the Japanese tree peonies that are grown in Japan now are actually Chinese tree peonies.
There are, of course, exceptions. One of them is “Island Brocade,” a variation of “The Sun.” It produces gorgeous variegated pink and red flowers. The Japanese only plant single and semidouble varieties, which bloom about a week after the Chinese mudans, for their own aesthetic reasons.
Japanese cultivars of tree peony are the most widely accessible in the United States. Both local garden centers and mail-order suppliers offer them for sale.
A new species (Paeonia lutea) with tiny, yellow flowers was introduced to the West about 100 years ago. It has been crossed with semidouble types over the years in both Europe and the US. A.P. Saunders carried out this hybridization in the United States, and as a result, numerous plants bear his name today. The flowers have a beautiful citrus-vanilla scent and are smaller, frequently pointing sideways or downward. They lengthen the tree peony bloom season by blooming later than either the Chinese or Japanese tree peonies.
Nassos Daphnis and David Reath’s second generation of hybridization has resulted in flowers that are bigger and have a wider range of colors. Flowers like “Redon” and “Exotic Era,” which have yellow undertones, are highly prized.
Toichi Itoh, a Japanese hybridizer, was successful in fusing herbaceous and tree peonies about 30 years ago, expanding the range of hues available in peonies. These intersectional or Itoh hybrids are a botanical wonder; they resemble herbaceous plants in the fall yet have the leaves and petals of tree peony.
Plant peonies in the fall
All peonies should be planted and moved in the fall. Tree peony should be planted at least six weeks before the ground freezes; planting in the spring just does not give the roots enough time to grow, and as a result, they are unable to sustain the emerging leaves. As a result, peonies planted in the spring frequently become weak or die, earning them the unjustified reputation of being difficult to grow.
Make a hole that is 2 feet in diameter and deep to plant tree peony. Create a hill in the center of the hole and cover it with the roots of the tree peony. When filling the hole back up, use high-quality garden soil that is rich in organic matter, and water it well both halfway through and at the end. It’s very challenging to plant tree peony too deeply, so make sure all shoots are buried. Also, keep in mind that tree peony have a tendency to grow rather large, so leave holes around 5 feet apart. It’s a good idea to mulch your peonies the first year if plants in your environment are prone to heaving.
Tree peonies are heavy feeders
Tree peony tend to be heavy feeders because they have numerous leaves and huge blossoms. Even though we don’t fertilize them before planting, we do provide them with compost in the years that follow. Any compost that is readily available should work, with the exception of fresh manures, which require time to decompose.
Instead of piling the compost on top of the soil, we dig a 1-foot-deep by 1-foot-wide trench and fill it with the compost along the plant’s drip line. Once roots have penetrated the trench for a year or two, we repeat the procedure farther out. In the spring, we also apply a foliar spray to our tree peony, such as fish emulsion or seaweed. We use this same solution to irrigate the plants once they have bloomed.
Tree peonies are incredibly robust plants. They usually return, even if you run over them with a lawnmower. They are nearly pest- and disease-free when taken care of properly. We deadhead the flowers after they bloom, and in the fall, we remove all the leaves that have fallen. Botrytis doesn’t infect the plants in the spring because to this cleansing.
The rose borer is the only insect pest that we are aware of that feeds on tree peony. From spring until fall, it burrows into the pith of elder plants and lays its eggs. You should remove the impacted wood if you notice its telltale hole or a wilting branch.
Older plants provide the blooms
Tree peonies’ young plants are dormant. For a first or second year exhibition of color, we advise that you buy plants that are at least three years old.
There is still more justification for buying plants. Tree peonies are challenging to breed. Despite the fact that a lot of single and semidouble cultivars yield fertile seeds, the progeny frequently revert to the species and lose the targeted traits of the parent plants. Even if they don’t, a plant developed from seed can take up to seven years to produce blossoms.
Grafting fresh stem growth, also known as scions, onto root stock is the propagation technique that is most commonly used. Branch stacking is a different approach that we have had some success with. Spreading and low-growing plants can be propagated rather easily, but erect kinds cannot.
Tree peonies may be difficult to propagate, but mature plants are simple to grow. They are low maintenance and can produce years’ worth of lovely, fragrant blossoms.
At Cricket Hill Garden in Thomaston, Connecticut, David Furman and his wife Kasha (who also contributed to this piece) gather, cultivate, and market Chinese tree peonies.