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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Peony Flowers
Peonies are perennials that return yearly to take your breath away with the fattest, most scrumptious flowers and lush green foliage. Learn how to care for peonies, how to keep them blooming, and more tips about growing peonies.
About Peonies
In the 1930s and 1940s, plant catalogs listed only three peony choices: white, crimson, and rose pink. Today, thousands of varieties are available.
Peonies are flowering perennials best planted in autumn for those outrageously beautiful flowers that bloom from spring to summer. They make magnificent cut flowers and also bear lovely foliage that stays green.
They are cold hardy, so any place you need an overcoat makes them happiest—they require a cold period for bud formation—a frustration to some southern gardeners.
Once settled in the garden, peony plants 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-draining soil. Peonies even relish cold winters because they need chilling for bud formation.
Types of Peony Flowers
There are six peony flower types: anemone, single, Japanese, semidouble, 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.
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-draining 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.
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.
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:
- Verticillium wilt
- Ringspot virus
- Tip blight
- Stem rot
- Botrytis blight
- Leaf blotch
- Japanese beetles
- Nematodes
- Aphids
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!
Catherine Boeckmann
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Your article was very informative. Thank you.
My peonies always have a seed that comes off normally in the fall or early winter after the flower has dried up. Are these new plants? I have allowed them to fall back in the ground at that time. I'm sure it would take much longer for a Peony to become established from one of these.
I couldn't find anything about the buds that grow beneath the main bud. My father called them suckers and always pinched them off. Is that necessary?
With the garden peony, you remove peony blossoms when finished so the plant can focus energy on next year’s blossoms instead of producing seeds. The peony dies down to the ground and produces next year’s buds underground.
However, the tree peony has woody stems and does NOT die back in winter. You do want to remove suckers and any dead wood in early spring.
I just bought the last tuber at Wal-Mart. Will it keep until September in the bag, store it differently, or should I plant it now.
Hi Lea,
Peonies grow nearly all of their roots in the fall. Rooting is triggered by the falling temperatures of the soil and allows peonies to develop the necessary underground support system for the following growing season.
Spring planted peonies generally produce few roots in warming soils. Many spring planted peonies struggle to survive and those that do, are often set back.
You should not leave it in the bag because you run the risk of it drying out before the proper planting time in the fall. What would be best is to plant your peony in a container (in non-fertilized potting soil) for the season, which will keep it from drying out. Then remove it from the container and plant it in the ground in the fall about 6 weeks before the ground freezes.
Unfortunately, many places sell peonies in the spring to catch the attention of gardeners, but it is really best to buy in the fall when it is fresh and ready for planting.
Hope this helps!
Should the soil be kept moist and the container in a dark location until the fall if you are trying o keep peony bulbs after purchasing to early in the spring. This is in regard to your answer to Lea
While waiting for fall to plant the peony bulbs, should the soil in the container be kept moist and in a dark area.
I see in your Peony article that there is no mention of Tree Peonies. I have been growing them in my yard for years. It takes years for them to reach a good size. They have woody type stalks and are shaped like bushes ... mine are somewhat rounded. They are fragrant, come in a whole lot of varieties and colors, are always "ANT FREE," and have tremendously huge flowers.
How about an article on TREE PEONIES ! They are truly majestic !!!
My peonies never bloom. They ate in full sun with sandy loam well draining soil. They get a few buds but they shrivel up before opening. What can I do to fix it?
