I fell in love with Sacramento’s horticulture because of one particular flower: the peony.
I was amazed by these enormous blooms that seemed to appear out of nowhere each spring as a transplant from Northern California. The ease with which they could expand was even more remarkable. Every year, they put on a fantastic performance while being completely ignored and give a surprise bouquet in April or May.
In my hometown of Long Beach, peonies are almost nonexistent. Sacramento has what most beach cities lack: winter chill. Coastal SoCal is ideal for growing many crops that can be challenging for the Central Valley (think avocados, bougainvillea, and Mexican limes).
Each winter, peonies typically require 400 chill hours in order to bloom. (More on Tuesday’s chill hours.) Sacramento consistently receives 600 chill hours or more; some locations get close to 800.
Peonies benefit from calm hours “going to bed. The plants turn completely bare and crumble to the ground. They can save their energy for their springtime extravaganza thanks to this dormancy.
They are quite challenging to locate in the garden due to this disappearing tendency, especially if they weren’t tagged. Peonies can now be planted, moved, or divided.
The world’s oldest cultivated flowers, peonies may live for generations and date back at least 6,000 years. Despite becoming extremely independent, they need to be divided roughly every ten years and then immediately transplanted or potted. The upside is that this procedure revives the plant and increases peony production significantly.
Perfect month for this process is September. The peony still have some above-ground foliage, and the soil is still warm enough to encourage root growth. They are visible.
Trim the foliage to a height of about 4 inches before dividing. Out of the ground, carefully lift the entire clump. Place the clump aside and carefully rinse the soil off with a hose or immerse it in a big pail of water.
That reveals the unusual root system of the peony. The main tap roots will be dark brown with a unique red or white crown at the top “eyes (the start of the blossoms for the following year). Future peony producers, including thick, tan tubers and thin, hair-like rootlets, will sprout from those primary roots. Treat the tubers carefully because they have a tendency to snap off readily. Your best tool is fingers in gloves.
The peony dilemma is this: the tap roots are battling for room after years of unhindered growth. That causes the number and size of blooms to decrease. However, peony prefer crowded areas; a little bunching results in large, mounded displays.
Keep at least three to five eyes in each new clump when dividing peonies. They might not all be focused on the same tap root. The new plant grows its own complete mound faster and produces more eyes, flowers, and leaves. Additionally, each tap root need at least one crown to live and grow.
Clumps typically have lines that naturally divide them, making it simple to pry the tangled roots apart or slice them with a sharp knife. Trim the little rootlets while leaving the tubers in place. (Peony experts claim that the rootlets may be the cause of infections that spread via the roots and kill the young plants.) Trim off any other foliage as well.
Replanting follows. Pick the appropriate location. For constant blooming, peonies require at least six hours of sunlight each day. They prefer morning sun and mild afternoon shade in Sacramento (it helps the fragile blooms last longer). For each new clump, incorporate 1/4 cup of bone meal into the soil prior to planting. Plant the clump with the tap root pointing down and the eyes pointing up, about an inch or two below soil level (but not any deeper). Deeply water the cluster after gently blending the dirt over it. Put a stake or other marker there as a reminder. then pause.
In the winter, peonies in pots may require sporadic watering, but in the ground, plants are often self-sufficient. They are simple to plant and leave alone.
New foliage will begin to emerge in March or April. Peonies are much simpler to locate in the spring if you’ve forgotten where they were.
Peonies can be grown in Northern California.
- Surface weather maps for the Midwest This map can be used to locate the ID of the weather station closest to you.
- Get relaxed
- I enter my weather station ID here to have the area’s chill hours calculated automatically.
But how do cool hours affect the development of peonies? Lean in closer because I’m about to reveal the key to peonies that blossom successfully: They won’t bloom if the temps aren’t frigid. They are primarily referred to as northern plants because of this.
There are different chilling hours needed for each type of peony to assure flowering. For the bulk of them to blossom well, 500–1000 cooling hours are needed. Your garden’s wait for peony cultivars that will never bloom will be so much easier if you are aware of the cool hours in your neighborhood.
For instance, there are typically 100 cold hours in my neighborhood. To discover peonies that bloom beautifully in spring and don’t require a lot of chilling hours, I must do the following. So the early blooming cultivars like Festiva Maxima, Early Scout, and Monsieur Jules Elie are my top choices.
Some peony catalogs include information on the peonies’ necessary chilling times. Others might not In this instance, I calculate the necessary chill hours using the system shown below:
- Low chilling period required = less than 500 chill hours. Therefore, varieties that bloom early are your best bet.
- A medium chilling duration of 500–700 chill hours is necessary. Therefore, cultivars that bloom early to mid-season are the better options.
- A high chilling period is required if the chilling hours exceed 700. Therefore, varieties with late-season blooms will thrive in these circumstances.
Keep in mind that this is a fairly streamlined method of calculating cold hours. By all means, take advantage of the opportunity to get more specific information about your favorite peony variety. It’s also important to keep in mind that the weather might occasionally be so unpredictable that it can ruin your planting season preparations. So don’t panic if, despite satisfying all the requirements, your particular peony variety doesn’t thrive in your region.
Fortunately, Northern California is a great place for peony. Here are a few illustrations you could use:
- Coral Appeal a season’s early blooming.
- Early season bloomer: Coral n Gold.
- Late midseason blooming, Bartzella.
- Early mid-season blooming, Blaze
- Maxima Festiva
- An early to midseason bloomer.
- Late bloomer by midseason, Sarah Bernhardt.
- Mid-season bloomer: sea shell.
- Mid-season blooming, Julia Rose.
- Sally Ann O’Hara
- Seasonal early bloomer.
- Belle, Barrington
- Seasonal early bloomer.
- Belle of Buckeye
- a season’s early blooming.
Do peony grow in So. California?
Gardens in Southern California are ideal for Keiko peonies. Itoh peony Takara, which blooms in warm areas, is a deep rose variety. If you enjoy peaches, the Misaka peony, an Itoh hybrid suited to warm areas, can satisfy your craving. Gardens in Southern California are ideal for Keiko peonies.
Are peony challenging to grow in California?
The peonies that resemble little shrubs and have stunning, vivid white, pink, or magenta blooms in the late spring and early summer are known as herbaceous peonies. In USDA zones 2 through 8, peonies are a longtime favorite of gardeners. Many gardeners in California long to add peonies to their landscape but think they won’t be successful since peonies require a chilly dormant period. You can take a few actions to promote peony growth and bloom in California.
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 you grow peony in San Francisco?
How well-adapted are tree peony to San Francisco? I recently bought a tree peony and put it in my section of the Craggs Court Community Garden at a spot that gets morning sun and good drainage. This garden has frequent fog and is chilly and humid for the majority of the summer. In San Francisco, I can’t claim that I’ve seen many tree peony, so I’m worried that my new purchase won’t blossom or will succumb to summer molds and mildews. If moving it to a different area will be better for the small shrub, I can do that.
A: In San Francisco, a tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) is unquestionably worthwhile to try. I can’t say for sure whether yours will flourish in its specific location and avoid sickness, but I believe there is a strong probability that it will be alright.
Herbaceous peonies drop to the ground every winter, whereas tree peonies develop woody stems that last all year and progressively increase in height to around 4 feet. Both have big, double blooms with silky petals in white and a range of pink to red colors as well as lobed foliage. To the tree peony’s color palette, hybridization has added yellow, orange, and copper. Herbaceous and tree peonies have been crossed to create some of the newest peony hybrids, known as intersectional or Itoh peonies. They can flourish in climates like San Francisco’s and die to the ground like their herbaceous parent.
Your choice of place for your tree peony is a good one because it has some shade and adequate soil drainage. Very windy locations should be avoided because strong winds can harm the huge blossoms. Nitrogen levels in vegetable-fertilized soil may be too high. A fertilizer that has more phosphorus than nitrogen and is applied in April and May during the bloom season is preferable. Avoid soil that is acidic. To determine whether your soil is neutral or slightly basic, use a pH meter.
Avoid overhead watering and pick up fallen petals and leaves to prevent illness. During the winter, when the plants are dormant, clean them up and remove any dead wood.
The majority of tree peonies sold on the market have been grafted, frequently onto herbaceous peony roots but occasionally onto other tree peony roots. To encourage the grafted top half to grow its own roots, locate the graft union (a widening or jog in the stem) and bury it 4 to 5 inches deep before planting. Additionally, trim off any new branches that have appeared below the area where the top has been grafted onto the roots since they will have different and likely inferior flowers.
A slope with clay soil might benefit from your recommendations for soil-holding groundcover and/or plants. It’s in Pacifica’s Linda Mar neighborhood. The microclimate is decent; it’s not as chilly and gloomy as other Pacifica regions. The vegetation on the hillside has now grown to obstruct the air and light. It’s feared that inclement weather would make the trees fall onto the condos. In actuality, they have in the past.
It’s important to have groundcover that can withstand droughts, doesn’t obstruct light and air, and supports slope stability. We will be grateful for any kind advice you may provide.
A: It seems like the perfect location to grow some native Californian flora. I enquired about what he believed would work best for this place from Glenn Keator, a freelance writer and teacher in the Bay Area who specializes in California natives. Glenn’s most recent book, “Creating California Native Gardens,” was co-authored with Alrie Middlebrook (UC Press, 2007).