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Growing Peonies
How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Peony Flowers
How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Peony Flowers
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The peony is outrageously beautiful in bloom from spring to summer—with lush foliage all summer long. Here’s how to grow peonies and get the best peony flowers in your garden.
Peonies are perennials that come back every year to take your breath away. The plants may live longer than you do—some have been known to thrive for 100 years.
Many nurseries offer early, midseason, and late blooming varieties, making it possible for you to stretch out the peony season over many weeks. There are 6 flower types to choose from: anemone, single, Japanese, semi-double, double, and bomb. Fragrances vary as well—some plants such as ‘Festiva Maxima’ and ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ have intoxicating rose-like scents while others are lemony or have no scent at all.
They’re hardy to Zone 3 and grow well as far south as Zones 7 and 8. In most of the country, the rules for success are simply full sun and well-drained soil. Peonies even relish cold winters, because they need chilling for bud formation.
Peonies make fine sentinels lining walkways and a lovely low hedge. After its stunning bloom, the peony’s bushy clump of handsome glossy green leaves lasts all summer, and then turns purplish-red or gold in the fall, as stately and dignified as any shrub.
In mixed borders, peonies bloom with columbines, baptisias, and veronicas, and combine well with irises and roses. Plant white peonies with yellow irises and a froth of forget-me-nots; set off pink peonies with blue Nepeta or violets.
Planting
When to Plant Peonies
Peony plants require little maintenance as long as they are planted properly and establish themselves; they do not respond well to transplanting.
- Plant peonies in the fall: in late September and October in most of the country, and even later in the South. (If you must move an established plant, this is the time.)
- Peonies should be settled into place about six weeks before the ground freezes. Spring-planted peonies just don’t do as well, experts agree; they generally lag about a year behind those planted in the fall.
How to Plant Peonies
- Grow peonies in deep, fertile, humus-rich, moist soil that drains well. Soil pH should be neutral.
- Peonies are not fussy, but choose your location wisely, as they resent disturbance.
- Provide shelter from strong winds. Plant away from trees or shrubs as peonies don’t like to compete for food and moisture. Space them 3 to 4 feet apart for good air circulation.
- Peonies like full sun, and though they can manage with half a day, they bloom best in a sunny spot.
- Peonies are usually sold as bare-root tubers with 3 to 5 eyes (buds), divisions of a 3- or 4-year-old plant.
- Dig a generous-sized hole, about 2 feet deep and 2 feet across in well-drained soil in a sunny spot. The soil will benefit from the addition of organic material in the planting hole. If the soil is heavy or very sandy, enrich it with extra compost. Incorporate about one cup of bonemeal into the soil. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.
- Set the root so the eyes face upward on top of a mound of soil in the hole, placing the roots just 2 inches below the soil surface. Don’t plant too deep! (In southern states, choose early-blooming varieties, plant them about 1 inch deep, and provide some shade.)
- Then, backfill the hole, taking care that the soil doesn’t settle and bury the root deeper than 2 inches. Tamp the soil gently.
- When planting a container-grown peony, cover it no deeper than it grew in the pot.
- Water thoroughly.
Care
Like children, young peonies take time to develop. They usually need a few years to establish themselves, bloom, and grow.
Peonies thrive on benign neglect. Unlike most perennials, they don’t need to be dug and divided.
- Spare the fertilizer. Work the soil well before you plant, mixing in compost and a little fertilizer, and that should be enough.
- If your soil is poor, the time to apply fertilizer (bonemeal, compost, or well-rotted manure) is early summer, after the peonies have bloomed and you have deadheaded the flowers. Don’t fertilize more than every few years.
- Help the stems. If peonies have any structural weakness, it is their stems, which are sometimes not strong enough to support their gigantic blossoms. Consider three-legged metal peony rings or wire tomato cages that allow the plant to grow through the center of the support.
- Deadhead peony blossoms as soon as they begin to fade, cutting to a strong leaf so that the stem doesn’t stick out of the foliage. Cut the foliage to the ground in the fall to avoid any overwintering diseases.
- Don’t smother peonies with mulch. Where cold temperatures are severe, for the first winter after planting you can mulch VERY loosely with pine needles or shredded bark. Remove mulch in the spring.
Pests/Diseases
Peonies are generally very hardy. However, they are susceptible to:
- Verticillium wilt
- Ringspot virus
- Tip blight
- Stem rot
- Botrytis blight
- Leaf blotch
- Japanese beetles
- Nematodes
Many gardeners wonder why so many ants crawl on the peony buds. Don’t worry! They are just eating the peony’s nectar in exchange for attacking bud-eating pests. They are attracted to the sugary droplets on the outside of flower buds or to the honeydew produced by scale insects. Never spray the ants; they’re helping you by keeping your peonies safe!
Luckily, peonies are also one of many deer-resistant plants you can grow in your garden.
Harvest/Storage
Peonies in a Vase
Peonies make wonderful cut flowers, lasting more than a week in a vase. For best results, cut long stems in the morning when the buds are still fairly tight.
You can wrap freshly cut peony stems in damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them. When removing the peonies from the refrigerator give the stems a fresh cut and place them in lukewarm water to wake them up.
Recommended Varieties
Peonies are spring-bloomers, but you can plan your garden for a successive display of flowers from mid-May to late June. Here are some choices:
- ‘Early Scout’: very early, red single flowers
- ‘Firelight’: very early, pale-pink single blossoms
- ‘Karl Rosenfield’: midseason double with large crimson blossoms
- ‘Norma Volz’: midseason large, white, fully double flowers
- ‘Elsa Sass’: late-season double with pure-white, camellia-like flowers
- ‘Rare Flower of Frosty Dew’: late-season 3-foot plant with bright pink fragrant blooms
Wit & Wisdom
Had I but four square feet of ground at my disposal, I would plant a peony in the corner and proceed to worship. –Alice Harding, The Book of the Peony
The fattest and most scrumptious of all flowers, a rare fusion of fluff and majesty, the peony is now coming into bloom.
–Henry Mitchell, American writer (1923-93)
Peonies are said to symbolize a happy life and a happy marriage. See more flower meanings here.
Marco Polo described peony blossoms as “roses as big as cabbages”.
When peonies blossom, it is safe to plant heat-loving melons, such as cantaloupe.
Peony petals are edible. Add to summer salads or use as garnish for lemonade and ice tea.
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Reader Comments
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Peony Buds
Why do I get lots of Buds but 90% never blossom ? Normally have a beautiful bush with one very pretty flower.
Peony Buds
Hi Freddie,
A possible reason for your peony buds not blooming is insufficient light. The buds need strong, direct light when the buds are forming and trying to bloom. Sometimes a tree can grow back its leaves during the bud growth and begin shading the peony plant later on. We hope this helps!
How long can I hold my Peony Tubers before planting
I orders three varieties of protein tubers. I just received them but now we are getting lots and lots of rain and the ground is saturated. The bed is not ready for planting.
Can I hold the tubers? If so where and how long? What should I do?
when to plant
As noted above, Peonies should be settled into place about six weeks before the ground freezes. You do not say where you are from, but you may have time yet. You can go a month or so before the ground freezes, too. (Remember, it takes a long, penetrating cold to freeze the ground.) If you do not get the peonies planted, set them in pots of soil, outdoors, with the pots buried to the rim, if possible. That will mimic their being in the ground. Then plant them in spring.
Peonies
Hello,
I Live in Sao Paulo/ Brazil, and I love Peonies, we do not have it here, so I took a few peonies bulbs from Europe and planted it in a pot, it has been 03 months since I did it.
Until now there are no signs of blossom out.
What can I do? Is it normal?
thanks,
Mario Padovani
Peonies in pots
I've never heard of peonies being planted in pots as they're a long lived garden perennial that can grow three or more feet in height and circumference. They bloom in the spring so that is probably the issue. I would replant them outside as they should be planted in the fall. Follow the instructions in this article and hopefully you'll get a bloom or two next year. The plants get bigger and more productive every year. Be patient. Good luck.
tranplanting
is it okay to transplant in the fall ? if so, what would the bloom be? or would they skip a yr or more?
Moving established Peonies in Jan
Can I transplant Peonies that have been in the ground about 3 years in January in Atlanta? They come up every year and look healthy but do not bloom ?
Thank You!
pionies
After they have bloomed and dropped their bloom can you trim them ?
peony
my peony was growing in the middle of my lawn so i dug it up and planted in a pot with correct compost according to garden centre. it is in sun allday i have a south facing garden,been in pot for about 2yrs, drain well wen watered which is every evening as its so very hot at mo,last year and this i have seen some very small buds but nothing has come of them they seem to die, i do feed it with feed i got from garden centre can u give me some idea what im doing wrong pls thnakyou kim
Kansas double peony
I have several growing in large pots. Very healthy plants. All had gorgeous blooms except one. It was covered in healthy buds. But they all dried up- this pot is in the shade of a large Red Oak tree. Since the tree was bare when the buds formed and then subsequently leafed out, would the shade of the tree cause the buds to fail?
Peony not blooming
First, peonies need at least 4 to 6 hours of direct sun to bloom well. If this plant is in the shade, this would be the obvious issue. Move it to a more suitable location. Other reasons for lack of bloom: Planted too deeply (crown should only be 1 to 2 inches or plant won’t bloom); not enough nutrition (add well decayed compost and 5-10-5 or a 10-10-10 fertilizer mixture which has lower nitrogen/more potassium); fungal disease (not helped by shade as peony gets weaker); and poor watering (don’t water the crown; water around the crown staying at least 6 inches away and allowing the water to soak downward to the roots. Watering the crown causes fungus and crown rot). We hope this is helpful.
Age of Peony roots
I am 74 yrs old and live in Mpls., MN. I have about 13 plants throughout my yard and all were given to me by my grandfather.
Before plastic flowers for Memorial Day people stopped at his house and purchased Peony bouquets for grave decorations. Then when my parents bought their house he divided a variety of Peony plants and gave them some of each color to plant in their yard. My parents did the same for me. My mother would have been 114 yrs old this year, but all of her Peony plants as well as mine came from her father and all are considerably older than 100 years old and all have been in the Mpls area the entire time and they’re still beautiful!
peony
What is the name of the peony pictured in the "growing Peony" section. Interested in the pink group picture :)
peonies
Hi Diana, This is a peony from a reader’s garden so we’re not positive, however, it looks similar to a “marietta sisson peony” if that helps!
peony
Thank you. They are so beautiful :)
Will Peonies Survive Full Sun in Atlanta
So many Flowers claim to be Full Sun but where I live the sun is so harsh that it's rare for them to truly be full sun and often the leaves will burn out. I found so many full sun plants are only full sun up north. Are Peonies full sun in the South or do they need shade from afternoon sunlight to thrive?
Peonies in the South
Peonies don’t generally thrive in the South, but there are heat-tolerant varieties to try. Consult your local garden center or cooperative extension. Peonies do need 6 hours of direct sun every day, but some afternoon shade would be advised. It’s really the high heat that causes peonies to wilt and fail in the South. Give them lots of moisture.
Buds but no blooms!
I've been watching my three peony buds for at least a month, and there doesn't seem to be any progress toward blooming. They seemed to get bigger for a while, but for the last two weeks they look exactly the same. There are lots of ants on there, which I've learned to leave alone, but I'm wondering how long it takes for the flowers to open!! Can I do anything to help them along? Water more? Not water?
My red peonies have many buds but they won't open up.
Red peonies won't open. What is wrong. lots of buds.
Peonies
We just purchased our home this last winter, so it is very interesting to see all the plants coming up from the previous owner. The peonies however do not have that wonderful fragrance that I have been longing for. One plant has a little scent. But the other 2 ...nothing. Curious?
Peony
Planted 2 years ago. Good green leaves but no buds. Use bloom buster on an off
Peony Flowers after blooming
I didn't get dead blooms trimmed back after an injury to my arm this spring. The flower heads grew some kind of seed head. do these make need tubers to plant? I trimmed some off today but afraid to throw away if they produce new plants. My plants came from my mother who died seven years ago. Any advice?
peony seed pods
The leathery pods contain peony seeds. Wait until the green pods have dried out and turned a dark brown, occurring at the end of the summer. When the pods have cracked open slightly, the seeds are ready to be planted. Plant each seed 1 to 2 inches deep in the soil, and then cover with mulch and dead leaves. The seeds will germinate underground in the fall, popping out above the soil the following spring.
How do I tell if my peony is dead?
Last summer I planted 4 peonies - one red, one orange, one light pink and one dark pink. All 4 grew but the light pink and dark pink peonies were the only ones that bloomed. They each grew one flower. It is June now and my red and orange peonies appear to be growing nice green stalks and leaves, however nothing had come out of the ground of where I had my light pink and dark pink peonies. Have they died? Should I plant new ones?
Peonies killer by lawn service
We hired a new lawn service this year and when they were spraying the lawn to kill weeds they also sprayed my peonies they were up about six or 8 inches and then they all wilted and died Will they come back up next year?
Our peony leaves are turning
Our peony leaves are turning white slowly. The buds are fine and the plant appears to be healthy. It seems to start on part of the plant and slowly cover all of the leaves. How do we treat this.
peony leaves turning white
what do I put on them (4 of them) The weather was not kind to them this year did not have any blooms but the plants are large.
Peonies
I remember one time I cut my peonies to the ground after the bloom was gone. They came up again the same year, and bloomed again!! Is this normal? I live in Northern Ohio.
Peony
Can I put the peony in the ground in the container it came in
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