Peonies • Wisdom Of Life

Growing Peonies in 2023 – Planting, Care and Secrets

09.07.202306.04.2023 by Steven Royston

Peonies are one of the most famous and favorite perennials. This is not surprising, given their luxurious beauty and aroma. Peonies also thrive in almost every region.

Відеоогляд товарів

Because peonies live for decades, they should be treated as a permanent addition to your landscape, not unlike planting a tree. Correct planting will provide you with flowers for many years.

Peonies are perennial flowers that appear in the spring with large showy flowers that last for several weeks. Depending on the variety and your location, peonies begin blooming in early spring and continue into summer.

Description of the plant

There are three types of these flowers: the herbaceous Eurasian peonies, the Asian tree, or moutan, peonies, and the North American peonies. In most places, flowers bloom in April, May or June. Expect tree peonies to bloom first, followed by herbaceous varieties, and then sectionals. Plant all three species in the garden to enjoy blooms for up to seven weeks.

Planting

When you grow these flowers for the first time, it can take up to four years of patience before you see your first blooms, but their longevity and ease of care make them an extremely useful addition to your garden design.

Choosing a place

Try to plant peonies in full sun and in fertile soil that has been improved by digging in the garden. They will grow well in a variety of soils, including clay, as long as it is not waterlogged in the winter and dries out in the summer. They are completely hardy, so they do not need shelter for the winter.

Soil

Peonies are adaptable, but ideally they like well-drained, slightly acidic soil (pH 6.5-7.0). If you’re planting in heavy clay soil, adding compost or a soil mix designed for azaleas and rhododendrons will make it easier for your peony to settle in. Tree peonies like slightly more alkaline soil than standard herbaceous peonies, and they do not tolerate competition from other shrubs.

How to plant peonies

Peonies are easy to plant and only take a few minutes. They are planted in the same way as other herbaceous perennials, but it is important not to plant too deep, as this can reduce flowering. Plants sold in pots are best planted in late spring. Seeds with bare roots are best planted in late autumn.

Choosing a place to land

Try to plant peonies in full sun and in fertile soil that has been improved by digging in the garden.

Space plants about 1m apart depending on their final height and spread;

Dig a planting hole the same depth as the root ball;
Move the soil with a shovel and carefully compact the plant, pressing with the heel of the shoe;
Make sure that the future buds are covered with a layer of soil no more than 2.5 cm, since deep planting reduces flowering;

Water the plants to settle the soil and continue to water regularly, especially in dry weather during the first summer;
Mulch with well-rotted organic matter to preserve moisture.

Autumn planting

Plant peonies in autumn: in late September and October. If you need to transplant an adult plant, it is best to do it in the fall, especially when the plant has gone dormant. Peonies should be planted about six weeks before the ground freezes.

Planting in the spring

Although it is certainly possible to plant peonies in the spring, things are worse with spring peonies. Experts agree: they are usually about a year behind those planted in the fall.

Peony care

Peonies, one of the longest-lived garden plants, are sometimes passed down from generation to generation in families. It is important to get the initial planting right because peonies can be temperamental about being moved once they are established.

Watering

Water regularly during dry spells during the first year to help rooting, especially if planted in spring or summer. Rooted peonies have deep roots and do not need regular watering after the first year.

Feeding

Do not fertilize in the spring, otherwise you risk burning the new growth. Instead, give a well-balanced fertilizer in late winter and summer after the flowers have faded.

Pruning

Peonies require a little pruning. Once your flower has finished blooming, cut back dead stems and branches. If the stem appears diseased, cut before the affected part. If two branches rub against each other, remove the least desirable branch. When pruning peonies, always cut directly above the first bud.

Peony transplant

There’s a myth that peonies can’t be moved, but if you get them out of the ground when they’re dormant in the fall, disturbing the root ball as little as possible, and plant them as soon as possible, they’ll be fine.

How to properly transplant Peonies, and how to care for them

12.03.202309.02.2023 by Steven Royston

The peony blooms very early, sometimes even in May. It blooms for a long time, charming everyone with its unparalleled beauty. But in order to admire blooming peonies every year, you need to know all the subtleties of caring for this plant.

Peonies are very sensitive to transplanting, and if something is done incorrectly, the plant may die.

The ideal option for transplanting peonies is the beginning of September. At this time, the plant actively grows shoots, which can later be transplanted to a new place.

Preparation is two weeks long

Before transplanting peony bushes, you need to prepare a planting hole. The soil should be stable and have a good drainage system.

Therefore, two weeks before transplanting, dig large pits, at least 0.5 meters deep, for the required number of bushes. Pour pebbles of fine fraction or river sand there. Then pour half a bucket of sand mixed with sod land on top.

Or prepare the following mixture:

Bone meal 1 cup;
Superphosphate 50 gr.;
Wood ash 1 cup;

Fermented manure 1 part;
Peat 1 part.

Mix all the ingredients together and place in the planting holes, pour water on top of each bucket and leave for the soil to settle. Place the peony bushes in the prepared holes, cover with earth and cover with pine branches, which will protect the plant from spring or autumn frosts.

Correct transplant

Cut off the top of the plant, leaving 10 centimeters of stem on the surface. Dig up the soil around the peony bush and water it well. Dig up the bushes the next day with pitchforks, because a shovel can damage the roots, then the flower can be sick for a long time or even die.

After digging, clean the root of the plant from the soil, and if the acidity of the soil is high, wash it in a solution of potassium permanganate. But during spring digging, peonies do not need to remove the earth from the roots, but it is better to dig it with the largest lump of soil.

Place the peony roots inside the planting hole, water it and cover it with soil. The plant should grow slightly below ground level in a shallow hole where rainwater or irrigation water will collect. The branches and buds of the plant should not be deeply buried in the ground, but only 5-7 centimeters.

In the first month, the peony bushes will be sick, so you need to pay maximum attention to them: water regularly, loosen the soil around the bush, and when the plant starts to grow, roll it up and tie it to a support.

About the neighborhood in the flowerbed

Plant other plants at a distance of 20 or more centimeters from the peony.

Plants should be lower in size and flowers than the peony bush, so as not to cover it.

Do not plant other flowers between the peony bushes.

Plant only one variety of peony in one flower bed.

Peonies: transplant rules and care

12.03.202318.01.2023 by Steven Royston

Peonies need to be transplanted, but often they die due to improper actions.

Ideally, peony bushes should be transplanted at the beginning of September, when the rhizome begins to actively produce shoots – when transplanted, they will be a guarantee of good survival of the bush in a new place. But, if it was not possible to dig up the bush in the fall, gardeners transplant the plants in the spring, when the ground is still full of moisture, and the bushes are just coming out of hibernation. You just have to wait for the first green branch to appear. Gardeners know that the first sprouts of peonies are bright red, as soon as they begin to form a green branch – it’s time to “transplant”.

Two weeks for preparation

Transplanting peonies does not begin with digging up the bush, but with preparing the place for future planting. The fact is that the flower does not like unstable soil, so a hole for it must be made in advance. A few weeks before digging, you need to form large pits under the bushes and fill each with small pebbles or coarse sand. Half a bucket of a mixture of sand and sod land should be poured from above into a hole half a meter deep. This filling can be replaced with the following composition:

a glass of bone meal;
humus and peat in equal parts;
a glass of ash;

50 grams of superphosphate.

A bucket of water should be poured into each hole, regardless of the soil’s natural humidity, and left for a week for the mixture to shrink. By the way, the transplanted plant should be covered with a lapnik, it will protect the peony from frost on the soil, which can happen in spring and early autumn.

How to do it correctly

Тhe plant must be tied and the leaf cut, leaving no more than 10 centimeters of the stem. Dig up the soil around the bush and water it abundantly. And you can dig up only the next day.

There is another subtlety here: you need to dig up the plant with a pitchfork, because the shovel often crushes the rhizome badly, and the flower gets sick for a long time. When transplanting in autumn, the root of the flower must be cleaned from the ground, and sometimes – with high acidity of the soil – even washed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. In the spring, you cannot clean the ground, on the contrary, the lump around the root should be as large as possible.

The rhizome of the peony is placed in the prepared pit in the center, this will allow the young roots to straighten up faster and start nurturing the plant. The peony needs to be watered from above and only then sprinkled with earth so that a noticeable hole remains, in which water will accumulate for the first time.

It is important to remember that the buds of the plant should not go underground for more than 5-7 centimeters, otherwise they may rot.

And consider: the first month the plant will be sick. At this time, the peony needs regular watering and loosening of the soil to ensure air access to the roots. As soon as the leaves begin to gain strength, the peonies should be rolled up, and with abundant leaf growth, tied up.