100 Years of Beauty

  Annette Thompson, Perennial Expert  

           100 years or more is how long a peony can live!  It is not uncommon to find peonies in old cemeteries or homesteads dating back to the turn of the century. Plant ‘rustlers’ will hunt out long lost varieties of plants in these ‘forgotten’ locations to try and find varieties that seem to have disappeared.
            For us in the here and now these magnificent plants are worth the seemingly short period of bloom they provide us. All are fragrant to some degree with some varieties being more perfumed than others. There are singles, doubles, ‘bomb’ types and more, in shades of white, pink, dark red and combinations.  Most popular are the doubles with the huge blousy flowers that are so romantic.  When these get heavy with rain they will droop. It’s ok to leave them, or you can use peony/plant grow through supports to hold them up and in view. These supports should be placed over the plant early in the season. It seems one weekend you notice they are coming up and the next weekend – boom!  they’re up and it’s too late to hoop them.  My solution was to put the hoops in place in the fall when I cut back the finished foliage and just leave them in place all the time.
            Peonies like lots of sun – a good 6 hours for good foliage growth and bloom. Less than 6 hours and plant quality decreases. Count on 3’ x 3’ for spacing. Do not plant them too deeply, or else they won’t flower. It’s best to plant them very close to the surface and cover with a nice layer of mulch. They also don’t care for lots of water or wet conditions.  

           At the end of the season cut back all of the declining foliage to the ground. There is a fungal disease called Botrytis that can destroy them.  Blackening foliage is the sign. Once you have it consider replacing the plant and do a good cleanup of the area. If you want to divide or transplant your peony only do so in the fall – and be sure to include 3-5 ‘eyes’ or buds.   
Another peony called the ITOH peony is becoming popular. It has the foliage and huge flowers of a regular tree peony but softer stems that die back to the ground for winter. Because it has some true tree peony ‘DNA’ the stems are strong enough to support the blooms without supports.  Plus these come in yellow too!
         PS: Ants are not required for the buds to open.  The buds produce a nectar as they mature that attracts the ants. Do not use an insecticide to get rid of the ants as it will damage the flowers. 
         June 9th I’ll be doing a perennial seminar on combinations. More details to come. Hope to see you then!