Peony Care
Some Helpful Tips for Peony Care
If you use proper diligence when planting and watering, peony care is not a lot of work, and you will receive huge benefits in your garden from this hardy shrub.
Whether you are planting peonies in pots, or using plants with bare roots, select a sunny spot for each plant. Make sure the area per plant is at least three feet across, and not close to tree roots. Choosing a proper area to plant your flowers is just the first step in peony care.
The best time to plant peonies is in September or October, when the plants aren't blooming anymore, and are easier to work with. Your local garden centers will have a wider selection of peonies at this time of year, as a rule. When you select peonies from a nursery, they will come with tuberous, thick roots and with three or four eyes. Eyes are the reddish, small buds near the top of the plant.
If your plants' roots are a bit dry when you buy them, you can soak them for twelve hours or so, in a bucket of water, before you plant them. Make sure when you plant, that the roots are well-spread.
Established peonies don't need a great deal of water, but be sure to keep your new plants watered. This is an important early step in peony care, for their first few months. You may want to stake your plants so they will grow straighter. Peony plants in bloom can become very top-heavy. The staking should be done in the early spring, when the first leaves emerge. Otherwise, it will be harder for you to do, because they grow so quickly. Bamboo stakes make an excellent alternative to the traditional hoop supports, which are sometimes not sturdy enough for peonies.
During the spring and summer growth season, while you watch each growing peony, care must be taken to ensure that they are all thriving in their areas. If they are too close together, or not getting enough sun, they will not do well. Transplant any shrubs that aren't doing well, and if you find a diseased one, uproot and kill it immediately, so the disease doesn't spread.
In the fall, when the plant is done blooming, you can cut off the whole flower stem. Stay down inside the plant when you cut, so the places aren't obvious. Peonies will be attractive even after they have finished blooming. The cutting will prevent infection in the plant, since old foliage is more susceptible to fungus.
In the fall and winter months, it is a dormant state for your peony. Care should be taken to plant in areas that have a winter season, because they need the cold winter temperatures to become dormant. In subtropical areas, you will find that peonies don't do well at all.
On the other hand, if you live in an area where the temperatures may drop to lower than thirty below zero Fahrenheit, give your peonies a winter layer of mulch. You can use Christmas tree boughs or fall leaves for your mulch.
The peony usually doesn't need a lot of work. A clump of peonies will grow quite contentedly in your garden, as long as your choice when planting was a sunny one with good drainage.