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Peonies: Planting, Growing, and Caring for Peony Flowers | The Old Farmer's Almanac

Peonies

pink peony flowers growing on a plant. peonies
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Pixabay
Botanical Name
Paeonia spp.
Plant Type
Sun Exposure
Soil pH
Bloom Time
Flower Color
Hardiness Zone
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How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Peony Flowers

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Peonies are perennials that return yearly to take your breath away with the fattest, most scrumptious flowers and lush green foliage. Learn how to plant, grow, and care for peonies year-round.

Peonies are flowering perennials that are best planted in autumn for those outrageously beautiful flowers that bloom from spring to summer. 

About Peonies

In the 1930s and ’40s, plant catalogs listed only three peony choices: white, crimson, and rose pink. Today, thousands of varieties are available. 

Peonies have outrageously beautiful flowers that make magnificent cut flowers and also bear lovely foliage that stays green. They are cold-hardy, so any place you need an overcoat (they require a cold period for bud formation—a frustration to some southern gardeners). 

Once settled in the garden, they can be content for generations. Some have been known to thrive for a century!

When Is Peony Season? When Do Peonies Bloom?

Peonies bloom from late spring through early summer, depending on your location and the variety of peonies you’re growing.

Many nurseries offer early, midseason, and late-blooming varieties, allowing you to extend 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. 

a large planting of pink peony flowers
There are six different types of peony flowers.

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.

Planting

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. In southern states, provide some shade. 

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 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.

Pink Peony flowers

Growing

How to Care for Peonies

Like children, young peonies take time to develop. They usually need a few years to establish themselves, bloom, and grow. And soon enough, they venture out on their own, mature and well-adjusted… Wait, no, that’s just children.

Peonies thrive on benign neglect. Unlike most perennials, they don’t need to be dug and divided every few years.

  • 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, 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, their stems 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. 

Fall Peony Care

  • After peonies leaves begin to fade, side-dress plants with a  balanced, slow-release fertilizer; avoid fertilizing with high nitrogen.
  • After frost, the foliage will die back completely. Cut the plant to the ground in the fall to avoid overwintering diseases.
  • Don’t smother peonies with mulch. Where cold temperatures are severe, for the first winter after planting, mulch VERY loosely with pine needles or shredded bark. Remove mulch in the spring.
  • While peonies do not need to be divided like other plants, fall is a good time to divide or transplant if your plants are too large. Remove the leaves, then dig around the plant’s roots in a large circle, and lift. If dividing, ensure a new section has at least 3 to 5 eyes. Replant.
Harvesting

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 a 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.

Peony in pink
Peony flowers are some of the most beautiful additions to your garden!
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Wit and Wisdom
  • After at least 2,000 years of cultivation and breeding in China, the ornamental peony was introduced to Europe and America in about 1800.
  • Two peony species are native to North America. Brown’s, aka western, peony ranges from California to Montana, and the California peony is found along the Pacific coast of that state.
  • 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”.
  • According to the ancient practice of phenology, 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 iced tea. Read more about edible flowers!

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

Pests/Diseases

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:

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!

Ants on peony bud
Ants often crawl all over peony flowers—but they are actually helping to protect them!
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprise that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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