The key to beautiful blooms is planning ahead of time.
Peonies are a garden staple in the South.
The shrubs unfurl their petals around Mother’s Day, adding romance to spring gardens.
Credit:Southern Living/Adrienne Legault
Disclaimer: These beauty queens are anything but low-maintenance.Planting peoniesrequires planning and patience.
Both are from Chinese species: herbaceous peonies are chiefly fromP.
lactiflora, tree types fromP.
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Festiva maxima’.Credit:Olga Seifutdinova / Getty Images
Most garden peonies are hybrids.
(Peonies won’t tolerate procrastinating gardeners.
For the last-minute spring planters, don’t sleep on these showstoppers.)
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Sarah Bernhardt’.Credit:Olga Seifutdinova / Getty Images
Youll findbeautiful peoniesblooming in late spring.
Proper planting will ensure flowers for years to come.
Deeper planting may reduce flowering.
Itoh peony.Credit:Olga Seifutdinova/Getty Images
double-check each rhizome has at least three eyes.
Rhizomes with fewer eyes take a long time to bloom.
Mulch peonies in spring to cool the roots and retain soil moisture.
Credit:Southern Living/Adrienne Legault
Plants usually dont bloom the first year, so be patient.
In the hottest climates, peony needs afternoon shade.
Peonies are more susceptible to fungal diseases without proper sunlight and may produce few or less impressive blooms.
Credit:Josie Elias/Getty Images
Soil
Choose a sunny, well-drained spot free from competing roots of nearby trees and shrubs.
Don’t plant peonies in a wet area.
Be sure the soil is well-draining and has a slightly acidic or neutral pH.
(Tree peonies prefer somewhat more alkaline soil.)
Water
Peonies require regular water, so water deeply and thoroughly every 10 days or so.
This will help the plant become established with a deep and healthy root system.
After the peony is established, they are drought-resistant.
Temperature And Humidity
Peonies need a period of cold weather to induce dormancy.
These flowers bloom early in temperatures with the extended summer heat.
Fertilizer
Peonies should bloom every year after their first season iffertilized twiceannually.
Feed plants with a low-nitrogen fertilizer, such as 10-10-10.
Spread about 1/2 cup about mature plants in spring when the shoots are beginning to emerge.
Reduce the amount to 1/4 cup around new, young plants.
Repeat in the fall.
Alternatively, top dress with an inch of compost in spring before mulching and repeat in the fall.
If the plant has a nutrient deficiency, apply fertilizer.
They bear single to double, typically very large flowers (to 1012 inches) that appear in spring.
More recent and more expensive are orange, yellow, and copper-colored hybrids resulting from crosses ofP.
lutea; these bear semidouble blooms that face outward and upward.
Tree peonies require less winter chill than herbaceous peonies.
The large flowers are fragile and should be sheltered from strong winds.
Prune only to remove faded flowers and any dead wood.
Itoh Peonies
Itoh, or intersectional peonies, are crosses between herbaceous peonies and tree peonies.
They behave like herbaceous peonies by going dormant with no stem visible in winter.
However, the foliage is recognizable as that of a tree peony.
Flowers are huge, like their tree peony parent, but do not need staking.
Look for yellow Bartzella, in addition to others in shades of pink and coral.
Olga Seifutdinova/Getty Images
Pruning
Prune peoniesafter blooming with clean pruners.
Cut dead stems or diseased stems to just below the infected area.
Tree peonies require similar pruning, but don’t remove the woody part.
Propagating Peonies
Peonies do not need to be divided the same as other perennials.
However, dividing the root clump is a way topropagate new growth.
Wait until the peony is matured (at least three or four years) before dividing.
Trademarked varieties cannot be legally propagated, so buy those from the nursery.
Begin by digging a hole at least 30% larger than the existing plant.
Fill the hole until the eyes (growth buds) are about one inch above soil level.
You want to space the peony plants at least 4 feet apart.
They need plenty of room to grow.
Positioning them too close together could result in leggy plants and disease.
Overwintering
Peonies do not require too much protection from winter’s low temperatures.
Peonies need around six weeks of cold weather to induce dormancy to replenish and bloom in the spring.
Only remove the foliage and branches.
Keep the “eyes” because this is how the peony will grow the following year.
Additionally, mulching the roots of younger peony plants can help protect them from the dropping temperatures.
It can infect the leaves and stems, resulting in a black or grey mold growing.
Remove the infected areas so it does not spread.
If a leaf is wilting or blackening, then it must be removed.
Powdery mildew is another fungus that appears on peony leaves.
In woody peonies, rabbits might attack the branches during the winter.
A mesh wiring can prevent animals from eating the wood if necessary.
Ants are often attracted to peony nectar, but won’t harm the flowers.
Avoid spraying or interfering with them.
How To Get Peonies To Bloom
Peonies bloom in the spring or early summer.
Deadheading flowers can promote new growth if the blooms begin to fade.
Competition from surrounding plants can alsoprevent peonies from blooming.
With young plants, patience is a virtue.
Give the plant another year to bloom.
To fix this problem, dig up the peony during its dormant season and replant it appropriately.
Move to a sunnier spot during dormancy.
The soil should be well-drained, and the first two inches of soil should be dry.
If insects are present, use a horticultural oil to spray on the leaves.
Blight can cause sprouts to fall over or different fungi to grow.
At the first sign of disease, treat peonies with a fungicide spray.
(Spray to prevent these fungi from forming in early spring).
In some cases, a late freeze or other environmental stresses can cause bud blasting.
Remove affected buds and dispose of them immediately.
Stick them into the soil to support the heavy blooms, especially during spring rains.
In Greek mythology, Paeon healed Hades after he was wounded in battle.
After a jealous Asclepius threatened to murder Paeon, the gods intervened and transformed the healer into a flower.
In ancient times, peonies were also used as medicinal plants.
These 33 species fall into three distinct groups, two of which are cultivated for gardens.
One group is known as herbaceous peoniesperennials that bloom in late spring and early summer.
