I've always gotten a lot of email questions on roses, but peony questions rank a close second. I gathered together the tips I shared last year, and the link at the bottom are even more tips plus more detailed growing information.

I can't imagine not growing peonies. They are, to me, the kind and beautiful great grandmother of the flower world. Much like roses, they will last years and years in your landscape and will thrive will a little pampering. Regular watering during the spring and summer is important. You can also carefully work in potash (the ash leftover after burning wood) and compost into the soil around bushes in the spring. This is really the best fertilizer to use on your peonies.

When your peonies bloom, never cut more than 25 percent of the flowers from a plant to bring inside, and cut the stems rather short so you leave as much foliage as possible. Once the flowers left on the plant dry up, they will normally fall off and you can clean up afterwards. It's very important to leave the peony foliage alone until the fall when frost turns it brown. You can plant annuals in front of it such as salvia, dusty miller, snapdragons or petunias. Iris, lily, phlox or poppies are nice companions.

One more note-- ants on your peonies are neither a good or bad thing. They are attracted to the nectar in the buds, and won't hurt the flowers or the plant.

DRY YOUR PEONIES
If anyone likes to dry flowers just cut some peonies and put a rubber band around the stems and turn upside down and hang to dry. They dry so nicely and look just like a rose. They look so nice in any dry flower arrangement. I try to dry just a couple of all my flower to see what dries the nicest. You would be surprised to see what all you really can dry. ~Linda

PEONIES IN WARM CLIMATES? I live in Southern California, and was wondering if they have made any peony varieties that would do well with our mild conditions. In the winter, where we live, it does get below freezing occasionally. I would say maybe 10 to 15 days of 25 to 32 degrees overnight, but I don't think that is enough for the regular peonies to survive. ~Bobbi

Peonies generally don't do well in Southern California and other warm areas. They need about 400 hours of 40 degree F. temperatures or colder. The reason it's stated in hours is because some days may be warmer during the middle of the day but cold enough part of the time. It doesn't have to freeze. Try planting them on the north side of a structure where they will get less direct sun and cooler temperatures. Tree peonies are different than the herbaceous peonies and some people in warm climates have had better luck with these. You can trim off their leaves in November- don't nick the stems. This may fool the plant into thinking it dropped all of it's leaves. Don't water or use fertilizer at all during this period. If all goes well you could see blooms in March or April. It's really important to talk with local garden centers or community garden clubs to see what other gardeners in your area are doing..

MORE: Tips on growing and caring for peonies:
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/peonies.html
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TODAY'S OFL SPONSOR
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I hope your day is lovely. ~Brenda

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To subscribe OR unsubscribe to Old Fashioned Tips
go to http://oldfashionedliving.com/news.html You
can manage both newsletters from here! IF there
is a problem email us from this page.

All material copyright Brenda Hyde 2001-2007
Request permission to use online or in print media