Peonies

Chelsea week is usually the week the irises break bud but what with the topsy-turviness of the world in general and the slugs in particular, there are no irises. What there are, is peonies.

Now, I don’t like to boast, but I grow a damned good peony. Of course, it is not really me, I set the conditions and then for a week a year, I revel in the glory that nature sends up from the soil. However, in this blog post is absolutely everything I know about peonies, and then hopefully your results will be as achingly glorious.

If I could summarise it all, I would suggest choosing a variety you adore, planting it right, and staking them. Good peony heads are big, which means good peony buds are heavy. Stake and support when they are first coming out of the ground and you won’t suffer the heartbreak of seeing them all snap off.

Planting and Caring for Peonies

Peonies thrive in well-drained soil and prefer to be planted in a location that gets at least six hours of sunlight per day. I plant them right in the middle of the field where it is most open. However, even more important is good drainage. Peonies do not like wet feet and may suffer from root rot if they sit in cold wet soil all winter. I don’t have great drainage, but it is good enough.

A comedian took a corporate after dinner gig at a biscuit manufacturer. They were a great audience and a raucous time was had by all. At the end, the comedian said thank you to them all and asked if he could put a question to them in turn. General assent all round until the comedian said ‘so… wagon wheels…’. As one the room erupted ‘they’re the same size… your hands were smaller then…’. I feel exactly the same about peonies. As soon as anyone utters the words ‘why won’t my peony flower?’ I want to shout ‘it’s planted too deep’. Too much Gardener’s Question Time as a child I’m afraid. The moral of the story? Don’t bother digging a hole for the root; just scrape a bit of a divot if you are planting a bare root. Plant to the level of the soil if in a pot.  

Spacing

Oh dear, I am probably not the person to ask. I break all the rules on spacing since someone told me ten years ago to plant my David Austins thirty centimetres apart (thirty) to get stem length and straightness and they were absolutely right. Peonies are meant to need a bit of air circulation but humbug to that, I ram them in and I get flowers a metre tall.

Watering

In order to train my garden for the coming climate change apocalypse, something has to be really vulnerable (or in a pot) for me to water. However, peonies put on a lot of growth in quite a short space of time, and getting all those flowers out has got to be a drain for the plant, so if there is a drought in May, I might make an exception.

Not this year though. For every hot day, there’s a wet one. But if you are on sandy, very dry soil, mulch, then water. Don’t mulch too deep though – it’s the same as burying them.

The ultimate peony varieties

I look for colour first, but also shape of flower (I don’t like the very ragged ones), and then extra points for sturdy stem.

Coral Charm & Coral Sunset

Vibrant coral-coloured blooms that transition to soft pink  and then to parchment as they mature, Coral Charm peonies are by some distance the most impressive flower I grow. Also: very early in the season, and prolific. Looks amazing with a background of Stipa gigantea which is still at a manageable height in May.

Buckeye Belle

The semi-double flowers, produced in late spring and early summer, are deep ruby red with a central mass of golden stamens. I have some bushes that are more double than semi-double (I may have been mis-sold) and I love these even more. Works wonderfully with bronze fennel foliage.

I don’t have, but I do very much want Claire de la Lune, a creamy single.

Pruning and Deadheading

I mean, I harvest these by the bucketload so pruning and deadheading doesn’t really come into it. But if you happen to leave them standing, the I should say that proper pruning and deadheading are essential for maintaining healthy peony plants and encouraging abundant blooms for cutting next year.

My tips for pruning and deadheading peonies:

Deadheading

Remove spent blooms regularly to encourage the plant to produce more flowers. Cut the stem back to a set of leaves to promote new growth. If one of the flowers sets seed, remove the seed pod. These can be beautiful and incredible in an architectural sort of way, but they do take a lot out of a plant, especially if you aren’t ever going to save the seed. If you are, I have no advice for you at all, although Alla might be able to help.

Prune right back in autumn

Cut back peony foliage in the fall once it has turned brown. This helps prevent the spread of diseases such as botrytis and promotes healthy growth in the spring. I love the leaves when they got deep red and slightly rusty and so I tend to cut them and use them as foliage alongside dahlias and such like.

Conditioning Peonies for Cut Flowers

My first ever wedding was the most stressful ever because I could not get my peonies to open. If they are bullet hard, you won’t get them to open, whatever you do. They need to be marshmallow texture before you cut them off the plant. Then it takes heat to bring them on. Yesterday was a hot morning followed by a rainy afternoon and between first cup of tea and lunchtime, they went from loose bud to full bloom. This morning, I will get in there early, for truly long-lasting flowers, one must cut before the sun hits the back of the neck.

It rained overnight so the heads were full of water. Hold them upside down for a little while to get all that out. They’ll just rot from the inside otherwise.

Peony stems should have a bit of heft to them so secateurs rather than snips. Strip the foliage off as quickly as you can. Plunge into a deep bucket of warm water and then leave the hole bucket somewhere cool and shady.

When you are ready to do something with them, cut again, and you are good to go.

Oh, and if your peony buds are covered in ants, don’t worry, they are helping. Peony buds are sticky and that makes it a bit tricky for them to unfurl, so the ants come and nibble at the sweet sticky sap. This also means that, if your buds really aren’t coming out and you need them in a hurry (who knows what peony-related event you might be flowering?) then soaking the whole stem and bud in a warm bath might work.