The peony has the fattest, most delicious petals and rich green foliage, making it outrageously attractive when it is in bloom. From spring to summer, savor stunning floral displays. Learn how to care for, grow, and plant peony.
About Peonies
Peonies are a perennial that will steal your breath away every year. The plants may even outlive you—some have been reported to survive for at least a century.
When Is Peony Season? When Do Peonies Bloom?
Depending on your location and the kind you are planting, peonies bloom from late spring to early summer.
You may extend the peony season across several weeks and take use of those magnificent blossoms for as long as possible thanks to the abundance of nurseries that provide early, midseason, and late blooming types.
Peonies may thrive as far south as Zones 7 and 8, and they are hardy to Zone 3. The key to success in the majority of the United States is to provide full light and well-drained soil. Peonies even enjoy the winter’s coldness because it helps their buds grow.
Types of Peony Flowers
You can pick from six different varieties of peony flowers: anemone, single, Japanese, semi-double, double, and bomb. The odors of different plants also differ; some, like “Festiva Maxima” and “Duchesse de Nemours,” have seductive rose-like aromas, while others have a lemony scent or none at all.
Where to Plant Peonies
When planted as a low hedge or along sidewalks, peonies make excellent sentinels. As majestic and dignified as any flowering shrub, the peony’s bushy cluster of attractive glossy green leaves lasts all summer before turning purplish-red or gold in the fall.
Peonies work nicely with irises and roses in mixed borders and blossom alongside columbines, baptisias, and veronicas. Plant pink peonies with blue Nepeta or violets, then surround white peonies with yellow irises and a froth of forget-me-nots.
Peonies are not overly picky, but you should pick your place carefully because they dislike disruption and do not transplant well.
Although they can survive in partial shade, peonies like full sun, and they flower at their best in an area that receives 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day.
Because of its huge flowers, peonies can become top-heavy in severe winds. Therefore, provide shelter. (If necessary, stakes can be used to hold them up.) Planting too close to trees or bushes will cause peony to compete with them for nutrients, sunlight, and moisture.
Grow peony in rich, wet, humus-rich soil that is deep, fertile, and well-draining. pH in the soil should be neutral.
When to Plant Peonies
As long as they are planted correctly and become established, peony plants require minimal upkeep. However, keep in mind that they do not adapt well to transplanting, so you should consider this when choosing your planting location.
- Plant peony in the fall: in the majority of the United States, in late September or early October, and even later in the fall in Zones 7 and 8. Your planting zone can be found here.
- If you need to move an established plant, the fall is the ideal season because the plant will be dormant.
- About six weeks before the ground freezes, peonies should be planted.
- While planting peonies in the spring is absolutely a possibility, the results aren’t always favorable. They often trail behind plants planted in the fall by roughly a year, according to experts.
How to Plant Peonies
- Peonies are typically offered as divisions of a 3- or 4-year-old plant, bare-root tubers with 3 to 5 eyes (buds).
- Peonies should be placed 3 to 4 feet apart to allow for enough air circulation. The development of disease can be facilitated by stagnant, damp air.
- In a sunny area, dig a generously sized hole that is about 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide. The inclusion of organic matter in the planting hole will improve the soil. Add additional compost to the soil to improve it if it’s sandy or heavy. Add about a cup of bonemeal to the ground. Find out more about soil improvements and getting the soil ready for planting.
- The roots should be positioned in the hole just 2 inches below the soil’s surface, with the root’s eyes facing upward on top of a mound of soil. Avoid planting too deeply! Choose early-blooming species, put them approximately 1 inch deep, and provide some shade in southern states.
- Backfill the hole after that, being careful to prevent soil settlement and a 2-inch root burying. Gently tamp the ground.
- Plant a container-grown peony no deeper than it was when it was in the pot.
- When planting, give everything plenty of water.
How to Care for Peonies
Young peony take time to develop, just like children. In order to establish themselves, blossom, and flourish, they typically require a few years. They eventually leave home on their own, fully grown and adjusted… No, that’s just kids, I suppose.
Peonies benefit from gentle neglect. They don’t require digging and dividing every few years like the majority of perennials do.
- Don’t use any fertilizer. Before planting, till the soil thoroughly while adding compost and a small amount of fertilizer.
- Early summer, after the peonies have flowered and you have deadheaded the blooms, is the ideal time to apply fertilizer (such as bonemeal, compost, or well-rotted manure) to a soil that is deficient in nutrients. Keep fertilizing to a few years at most.
- assist the stems Peonies’ stems, which occasionally are not strong enough to hold their enormous blossoms, are the only part of their structure that may be considered weak. Think of structures that allow the plant to grow through the middle of the support, like three-legged metal peony rings or wire tomato cages.
- Peony blossoms should be deadheaded as soon as they start to fade, cutting to a sturdy leaf so that the stem doesn’t protrude through the foliage. To prevent any infections from overwintering, trim the foliage to the ground in the fall.
- Avoid covering peonies with mulch. For the first winter following planting, you can VERY LOOSELY mulch with pine needles or shredded bark when the winters are bitterly cold. In the spring, get rid of the mulch.
Peonies bloom between late spring and early summer, but by planting a variety of cultivars, you may arrange your garden for a succession of blooms from mid-May to late June. Here are a few options:
- ‘Early Scout’ has red solitary flowers that open incredibly early.
- “Firelight”: very early-blooming, single, pale-pink flowers
- ‘Karl Rosenfield’: double, midseason bloomer with substantial crimson blooms
Do peonies enlarge with age?
Growing peony from seed or grafted hybrid types are the two basic methods. Initially developing slowly, bush peony often start blooming three years after being planted. After being planted, bush peonies can live for up to 100 years. They develop slowly, producing progressively more blooms. Herbaceous peonies bloom their first year and then grow back from their roots the following year.
How can I improve the growth of my peonies?
Award-winning plantswoman Claire Austin is an expert on herbaceous peonies, irises, and perennials as well as a member of the Peony Society. She has a vast knowledge of these magnificent blooms, as evidenced by the fact that her mail-order nursery in Wales offers more than a hundred different types of herbaceous peonies.
We asked her to give us her straightforward advice on how to grow the ideal blousy peony.
The best time of year to plant peonies
Peonies should be planted between October and March for the greatest results. However, in 30 years and eight different gardens, I have never noticed a difference. Some publications advise against planting in December.
How deep to plant a peony and shallow planting tips
The depth at which you put them is crucial; if you plant them too deeply, they won’t blossom. The eyes (the blossoming stems) of herbaceous peony should be planted no deeper than 2 cm into the ground.
Where do peonies grow best?
Peonies are simple plants to grow if the fundamentals are in place, despite the misconceptions that surround them. Plant your peony in soil that drains properly because they require a lot of water as long as it doesn’t become soggy at any time of the year. As long as the clay doesn’t remain moist, it’s okay.
Although they may tolerate little shade, peonies prefer the full sun, where they flower at their finest.
How long does it take for peonies to flower and how long do they live for?
Peonies may take three years to get going and begin freely blooming, but after that, they can live for up to 50 years. Simply take your priceless peonies with you if you move, and they will adjust to the new location.
How to move and replant peonies
The optimum time to relocate them is between October and March, when the plant is dormant. Move the roots to their new location by excavating around them while causing the least amount of damage to the rootball. When lifted, peonies can even be divided to create new plants. A minimum of three clear eyes (stem buds) should be present on each segment after a clean cut.
How to cut peonies and use them for flower arrangements
Peonies produce lovely cut flowers and keep their beauty in a vase for up to ten days longer than garden roses. Large, delicate, velvety, and romantic are the blossoms.
Patience is required if you wish to develop peonies for cutting. The majority of cut cultivars typically need up to 3 years to produce enough flowers for cutting. However, because the flowers are so big, a typical vase only needs one or two blooms to look lovely and extravagant.
How to get rid of ants on peonies
How to get rid of ants on peony flower buds is a common question. The reply is, “Don’t.” I’ve found that ants aren’t harmful. They emerge when the bud swells, feed on the sweet liquid it releases, and may even aid in the bud’s proper opening. The ants leave as soon as the buds begin to open.
Take a walk on the Intersectional Side!
The world of peonies has been experiencing a silent revolution. As create what are referred to as intersectional peonies, breeders crossed tree peonies with herbaceous peonies.
These recent arrivals are more expensive and rarer than herbaceous peonies, but they flower for twice as long, have gorgeous leathery green leaves, and don’t seem to have any diseases.
Consider their scent
There are many fragrant peonies. The aroma varies amongst types, with some species only releasing it after the blooms have been harvested and placed in a vase. The aroma is affected by the temperature, the time of day, and, of course, your nose!
Use peonies to deter rabbits in the garden
Start growing peonies if you have bunnies that adore nibbling from your borders! Rabbits won’t be tempted to nibble on the roots, stems, or blooms of plants with huge, blousy flowers, such as peonies, irises, lupins, oriental poppies, and kniphofia.
How can you help peonies spread?
No, peony won’t naturally grow more plants or spread out. One day you may realize that your peonies have grown rather large and have spread out quite a distance.
If you want to grow more peony plants in this situation, dividing them is your best option. This is the finest approach to propagate herbaceous peonies and a way that you may aid in it.
Peonies can’t actually be encouraged to grow or anything like that. Simply put, it’s better to hold off on taking any action until the peony plant has grown larger.
Dividing peony plants is the only way to produce more of them. Although this method isn’t inherently difficult, you’ll want to become familiar with it so that you can carry it out correctly.
To get more peony plants, read on to find out how to divide existing ones. This will enable you to plant peonies in several garden locations if you so want.
How come my peonies are so tiny?
Bud burst is a phenomenon that can happen to newly planted peonies. About the size of a small pea, the flower buds increase in size before stopping and failing to open.
Fall is when peony plants develop their buds. After being divided, a clump has a significantly diminished root system and occasionally lacks the strength to support the development of all of its buds. As the plant ages, this issue disappears.
Possible explanations for more mature plants include insufficient soil fertility, excessive shade, dry spells, or cold harm following a harsh winter. The buds of mature as well as fresh plants might be destroyed by unusually cold winters and late spring frosts.
The best treatment is to cover peony clumps with winter mulch in late fall or early winter after you have removed the foliage from the previous season (fall leaves or Christmas tree boughs work nicely).
My peony’s a few stems suddenly developed a gray mold, withered, and went brown. What’s the issue?
Peonies can become infected with botrytis blight in cool, damp springs. Older plants may only have a few stems in a clump impacted, whereas young plants may have all stems infected.
Any wilting stems should be trimmed off below the afflicted area. Don’t let infected material come in contact with healthy stems, please. Dispose of in the trash (not the compost), and clean your pruners with bleach or rubbing alcohol. When the weather becomes drier and warmer, your peonies should thrive.
Always plant your peonies in a sunny location, leaving enough space between them for good air circulation, and undertake a thorough clean-up of fallen leaves each fall to avoid issues.
Why do my peony buds seem so tiny?
Blast of Peonies’ Buds The buds wither and turn brown or black when they are still young. It was once believed by experts that the fungus botrytis blight, also known as bud blast of peony, was to blame for this condition. It is now understood that poor cultural care frequently contributes to peony difficulties.
Which fertilizer is ideal for peonies?
In most garden centers, you won’t find a particular peony fertilizer, but ones for bulbs and perennial plants work nicely. Use a fertilizer that is balanced or one that has a little less nitrogen. The numbers 10-10-10, 10-20-10, or 5-10-5 are all wise selections.
If your peonies don’t develop many buds and flowers or have few of them, the fertilizer may be the cause. Avert using fertilizers with excessive nitrogen. This promotes less bud formation and more foliage growth.
Consider conducting a soil test if your plants are still giving you difficulties. At your neighborhood extension office, you can test a sample. Additionally, they will provide advice on how to improve the soil for greater development and more blooms.