Growing Peonies
Peony plants are an investment in your future happiness.
If planted in the right spot, peonies will live hundreds of years, and continue to bloom year after year after year.
Even though some nurseries will tell you peonies can take part sun, don’t listen to them. Sure, peonies will survive in part sun, but rarely will they bloom unless planted in full blasting sun.
They may bloom in spring, but for the rest of the year, they’re soaking up rays and storing all that energy in their roots to make next year’s flowers, so it’s important that they have access to sunlight in summer and fall too.
Have your peony plants stopped flowering? If you’ve planted them somewhere that used to be full sun, and the trees have grown in more to the point that your peonies aren’t getting full sun, that’s ok! You can always move them. The best time to move them is in fall, after the frost has turned the foliage brown. Move as much of the root mass as you can when transplanting to keep your plant as full as it was. Or if you want to divide it at this time, you can do so, but know that you’ll be starting with smaller plants and fewer blooms per plant that will take a few years to get back to full size.
Plan to keep your peony plant in a pot? Keep the pot in full sun, and keep the plant well watered throughout the summer and fall until the foliage dies back with the first hard freeze. In winter, store the pot in a shady area. The reason for this is that you don’t want the pot to warm up in the sun and thaw, only to refreeze again overnight. The freeze/thaw cycle is what kills perennials in pots. Solve this by keeping your overwintering potted perennials in shade where they will stay frozen all winter. Wait for them to start poking their leaves out from the soil surface before you move them back to their full sun position.
Wondering where your flowers are? Peony buds (especially early flowering varieties) are susceptible to late frosts which will nip the buds off the stem. Buds can also be “aborted” (yes that is the technical term) if the plant doesn’t recieve enough water and fertilization when they are forming, so be sure to keep them well watered in spring, and apply your favorite organic fertlizer when their leaves start poking through the soil surface.
Did you plant a peony, and it never came up? You may have planted it too deep. If you know right where you planted it, you can dig up the root again and plant it so it’s not more than 2” down from the soil surface level.
Want to cut the flowers to bring indoors? As a flower farmer, I check my peony plants three times a day when they are blooming so I can catch them at just the right stage. And guess what. Every different variety of peony has a different ideal stage of harvest. I used to cut my Sarah Bernhardt peonies in “marshmallow stage” which is widely regarded as the correct stage to cut peonies. The idea is that the bud should be squishy like a stale marshmallow and not yet fully open. The problem I found was that if cut at this stage, the flower would never fully open. So now I cut them when they are just starting to open up, and have started forming a cup-like shape. However, for other varieties, especially single types, I would cut sooner when the petals are still mostly closed. Nothing’s easy is it. Every flower is it’s own unique snowflake. For in home use, try and cut them when they’ve just barely started to open up, and cut as little foliage off as you can. The stage shown below is perfect for Sarah Bernhardt and other very fluffy peony varieties. At this stage it will open up fully inside and still give you a few good days of vaselife.
Have any more peony questions? Or tips from your own experiences growing peonies? I’d love to hear it! Shoot me an email at beth@foodandbloomsfarm.com
Cheers
