How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Peony Flowers
The peony is outrageously beautiful in bloom with the fattest, most scrumptious flowers and lush green foliage. Enjoy breathtaking flowers from spring to summer. See how to plant, grow, and care for peonies.
About Peonies
Peonies are perennials that come back every year to take your breath away. In fact, the plants may live longer than you do—some have been known to thrive for at least 100 years.
When Is Peony Season? When Do Peonies Bloom?
Peonies bloom from late spring through early summer, depending on your location and the variety of peony you’re growing.
Many nurseries offer early, midseason, and late blooming varieties, making it possible for you to stretch out the peony season over many weeks and enjoy those lovely blooms for as long as possible!
Peonies are hardy to Zone 3 and grow well as far south as Zones 7 and 8. In most of the U.S., the rules for success are simple: provide full sun and well-drained soil. Peonies even relish cold winters, because they need chilling for bud formation.
Types of Peony Flowers
There are six peony 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.
Where to Plant Peonies
Peonies make fine sentinels lining walkways or 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 flowering 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.
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Peonies are not too fussy, but choose your location wisely, as they resent disturbance and do not transplant well.
Peonies like full sun, and though they can manage with half a day, they bloom best in a sunny spot that gets 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day.
Provide shelter from strong winds, as peonies’ large blooms can make them top heavy. (Use stakes to hold them up, if necessary.) Don’t plant too close to trees or shrubs, as peonies don’t like to compete for food, light, and moisture.
Grow peonies in deep, fertile, humus-rich, moist soil that drains well. Soil pH should be neutral.
When to Plant Peonies
Peony plants require little maintenance as long as they are planted properly and establish themselves. Note, however, that they do not respond well to transplanting, so you should plan your planting site accordingly.
- Plant peonies in the fall: in late September and October in most of the U.S., and even later in the fall in Zones 7 and 8. (Find your planting zone here.)
- If you must move a mature plant, fall is the time to do it—specifically, when the plant has gone dormant.
- Peonies should be settled into place about six weeks before the ground freezes.
- Although it’s certainly possible to plant peonies in the spring, 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
- Peonies are usually sold as bare-root tubers with 3 to 5 eyes (buds), divisions of a 3- or 4-year-old plant.
- Space peonies 3 to 4 feet apart to allow for good air circulation between the plants. Stagnant, humid air can be a recipe for disease to develop.
- 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 at the time of planting.
Keeping Peony Flowers 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.
Peonies are generally very hardy. Plus, peonies are also one of many deer-resistant plants you can grow in your garden.
However, they are susceptible to:
- Verticillium wilt
- Ringspot virus
- Tip blight
- Stem rot
- Botrytis blight
- Leaf blotch
- Japanese beetles
- Nematodes
Why Are There Ants on My Peonies?
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 and aphids. Never spray the ants; they’re helping you by keeping your peonies safe!
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Aren't you ignoring differences between herbaceous, tree and Itoh peonies?
Regular peonies and tree peonies (or crosses) have similar care requirements. They both originate from Asia, they both have short but gorgeous blooming season, and they both can live up to a century. Regular herbaceous peonies typically stand about 2 to 3 feet tall; tree peonies reach between 4 and 5 feet when fully mature. The main difference is that tree peonies should NOT be cut or pruned unless there is a dead branch.
Are Grass grub and Porina slugs a problem to Peonie bulb we have just planted them and wondering what to use
I have found that diatamaceous earth is wonderful for the slugs and other bugs. Mix with the soil and it kills them. First year in a long time that my azaleas are doing fantastic and no longer have the Azalea moth eating them up.!
Peonies are grown from tubers. Slugs generally stay away from peonies, which are often listed among the plants that slugs don’t like!
I live in zone 9 b I’m on my second year with my peonies and I have them in containers big ones are they okay like that they seem to be growing much bigger this year
Hi, Donna, Peonies, like many plants, will come back bigger every year. The good news is that they are coming back! Peonies produce more roots and so send up more stems, all in all taking up more space over time. At some point you may want to divide the plant/s you have or get a bigger container. They sound ok for now; two years is not a long time. When they become crowded or don’t seem to be as vigorous or as large as they were in their best years, it will be time to make a change.
I live in zone 6b. I bought Peonies from our nursery in pots. They have buds on them. When do i put them in the ground? Thank you for the help.
The best time to plant peonies is August 15 to September 1 so they become well established. However, the next best time is spring. Anytime in April is usually safe in zone 6b.
I understand voles. Any advice to deter voles?
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