Peony : to prune or not to prune that is the question......

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roseculhane West New York, NJ Jun 07, 2011

Have a nice peony in the yard that I had to relocate to a smaller area of the garden. After blooming can it be pruned so the foilage takes up less space? They only bloom once per season right?

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Jun 07, 2011

Yes Peony's only bloom once each year but boy, are they beauties, it is not normally good to prune off the foliage of any plants that grow from bulbs, tubers or rhisons etc, this is because the bulbs/ tubers etc are like a store cupboard that feeds, nourishes and makes the plant grow, it needs the foliage to die down naturally after the flowers are done, when the foliage dies down, the tuber / bulbs take in the goodness from the decaying greenery and stores it back into the bulb / tuber till it is ready to be used next spring when it sends up new growth.
Most Peony's wont flower the first year they have been moved or disturbed, also they don't like there roots disturbed, when you plant a peony, you need to just bury the tuber JUST below the soil so that it gets baked in the sun,make sure you add some multi purpose feed to the new soil as they are hungry feeders, if you bury peony's inches below the soil, you find each year they grow greenery but don't flower, now you have moved yours, stick a small garden cane in the soil and tie the greenery loosely to the cane, this will keep it in a smaller bunch and take up less room. personally I like the shape, texture and colour of the peony's foliage and grow stuff that flowers after these to contrast with the peony foliage, but gardening is all a matter of taste and what one gardener likes is horrid to another. hope this helps. WeeNel.

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duck_toller Middleton, WI(Zone 4b) Jun 07, 2011

My father in law used to take is lawn mower over his peony bushes as soon as the blossoms were done. A flurry of pink and white petals all over the lawn. They came back bigger and bushier each year.

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