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
When to plant peonies:
For the best chance of blossoming the following spring, bare root peonies should be planted in the fall (before the first frost). Those that are sown in the spring might not bloom for two or more years.
Where to plant peonies:
Peony plants require a position with plenty of space, good drainage, and 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. The best location must be chosen in order to succeed. Deep roots on established plants make transplanting challenging or perhaps impossible.
Tip: Peonies do not like to have root competition, so the experts from the University of Michigan’s Peony Garden at the Nichols Arboretum advise placing them far from big trees and shrubs.
How deep to plant a peony:
Depending on the kind and your climate, you should plant your peonies at a specific depth.
- Herbaceous: Place these close to their “1/2 inch (in warmer zones) to 2 inches (in cooler zones) below the soil’s surface are the eyes (next year’s buds).
- Plant trees farther apart from herbaceous species. According to experts, you should dig a hole that is 2 feet deep and 1 foot broad, and then add organic stuff to the backfill. Place the graft 4 to 6 inches below the surface of the earth so that the “Rootstock of nurse herbaceous peonies will disappear.
- Plant intersectionally, 1/2 inch deep in warm zones and 1.5 inches deep in cooler zones, just below the soil’s surface.
What type of soil is best for peonies?
Even though some gardeners have success cultivating them in their natural soil, the majority of experts advise amending the soil with organic matter before planting. Additionally, make sure the soil has good drainage because roots that are damp won’t thrive there.
Growing peonies in pots:
Peonies can be grown in pots with the right care, however they thrive in the garden.
- Pick a big container that has lots of drainage holes.
- Bring potted plants inside during the winter in colder climates to protect them from subfreezing conditions.
- During the growing season, water more regularly since containers dry out rapidly.
Where should I plant a peony in my home?
You should place your peony a little bit away from your house entry since those annoying little creatures adore them. I have pink peonies on the side of the home, and that would be perfect. On the side of our garden shed, which is towards the back of our yard, are my fusia pink peonies. Simply shake your cut flowers to get rid of the ants before bringing them inside. If any linger while inside, rinse those creatures down the drain by submerging the flower head in some water.
Can peony be grown next to a house?
Is it true that ants are required to open peonies, or is this just an urban legend? Does anyone have a firm response to this? There is a lot of debate on the internet.
According to my own observations, you do require the ants to open the bud, at least until a few petals are visible. Ants are drawn to peony whether or not they are required. So I advise setting your peonies outside of the building. You will get an infestation if your plants are too close together. Not that I have any firsthand knowledge or anything…
Peonies aren’t particularly appealing to deer and rabbits, since we’re on the subject of animals. If those pests are a concern for you, plant without worrying about them getting devoured.
Do peonies do better in the ground or in pots?
Contrary to popular belief, peonies are lovely, classic cottage garden plants that do nicely in the right pots.
As with many other plants, peonies are large, robust plants, making it much simpler to grow them in beds or borders.
But growing peony in substantial pots is an alternative to think about if you have little to no permanent growing space.