When we moved into our house, which has been in my fiancées house for generations we were told there were peonies out front at one time, but had been mowed down several years in a row. This year we waited to see what came up prior to mowing and here's what we found.....
Are these peonies? If so, is there anything I can do to help them re-establish themselves for next year? I have peonies envy. Everyone else has large beautiful blooms right now and all I have is......
In addition I planted some roots this year myself and they don't look much bigger... I know I'm perhaps being impatient but I don't have the first clue what I should be doing to ensure the strength of these for future years.
This variety is called 'vivid' sold in Walmart. In the Susan g. Komen line.
Vivid....
Yes those are Peonies. They take a couple of years to get big enough to bloom and if they are buried too deep they will not bloom. They almost need to be right under the soil surface knda like Irises.
Doug
So, if anyone here can tell me all they know about peonies and give me some pointers it would be much appreciated.
I believe that after so many years they've collected some extra soil from cutting the grass, being mowed down, etc. About how many inches deep should they be?
I have read that the 'eyes' should not be any deeper than two inches. Yours look too deep to me. Can you carefully scrape away some of the surrounding soil? They look rather small, it could take a couple years to get flowers, but I'm just guessing. Edited to add: I also bought a package of Susan G Komen Peonies from Walmart this spring. One had sprouted in the package, but it shrivelled up and died, the other one never did sprout. I don't remember which one it was, but it would have been pretty. I saved the label, I think I will look for another one at a nursery that's already growing.
This message was edited Jun 9, 2011 3:33 PM
Mine also started sprouting in the package and as there was 2 feet of snow in the yard a started them inside, acclimated them and put them out as soon as possible. The ones I planted were OK, but I checked the others and they were way too deep. I even found some roots that had small shoots that hadn't broken the surface yet. All that grass clippings and getting mowed made a nice compost I guess. I think in a few years I'll have some blooms. Should I fertilize them? I've already scratched in some bone meal early this spring.
Not sure on the fertilizer. Don't tell, but I'm one of those lazy gardeners. I don't usually remember to use it.
I don't know if your up for it but, I would go to these little plants (Peony's and gently lift them out the soil, before you do that, get ready a new planting area first, add as much manure / compost you can to the new area and dig it in well, you need a space in good sun, a place where they will be well away from walking over them running the mower over them and generally left to do what they do best, give out beautiful big blousy blooms to enjoy for many, many , many years, they have survived all the harsh treatment up to now, so they deserve some TLC from there new owner, so go for it.
Peony's like a good rich soil with added manure that helps hold soil moisture, feeds and protects from frost / cold.
If no Well Rotted animal manure is available, I use shop bought chicken pellets, added to soil. read instructions,
Peony's don't flower at all IF buried too deep in the prepared soil, when you plant them, dig the hole, sit the tuber /bulb into the planting hole and add soil or remove some to set the tuber just under the soil surface, firm the soil around the tuber by making a fist and pressing your fisted hand into the top soil to make this firm.
Add a garden cane beside the tuber, make the cane sit about 2 feet above the soil, this will allow you to add plant supports for when the foliage starts to grow through the soil and it offers help to support the heavy flower heads, I like plastic rings as support, they have a center that you push over the cane and inside the plastic circle there is spaces for the foliage to grow through, once the foliage is growing, you don't see the supports, the flowers get heavy when it rains etc.
After flowering, dead head the flowers so the plants don't use up energy making seeds, you want all the energy to go back to the tuber for the following years flowers, at this time, I spread a handful of blood, fish and bone meal, to help boost it for the winter months.
Let the foliage die down and only when it is dead looking, cut the foliage away, I leave the foliage till early spring as it gives winter protection to the tuber that is JUST under the soil, or add a compost mulch till next spring when the soil warms up.
Next year when there MIGHT be flowers, put a label around the plants so you know what colour the flowers are, how tall they are and general info so you know what to plant beside them for contrast, I use Delphiniums, Lupins of contrasting colours and perennial plants like those, plant in 3 or 5 of the same plant and you will end up with a good flower border all liking the same soil conditions.
get a book from the library, book store and the info will help you,
Hope all this helps you out, Good luck, WeeNel.
Wow!!!! That's great WeeNel. I have lifted them out a bit. I think i will get some manure and try that. I know that the ones i planted are supposed to be very bright pink. Not sure about the ones that have been here. I hope i get to see next year!....or a few years from now anyway. I will work on getting manure, & blood meal, and i will get some stakes. I really think it's just going to be a matter of digging them up then leaving them be. Perhaps i should wait it out till fall?
Here's a sticky thread from the Peony Forum for you. Have fun getting to know them:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/957352/
Oi! I need to save up $ and subscribe already. First thing Friday. That's my birthday present to me! Lol then i can ask these questions in the proper forums which i'm currently locked out of. :(
Happy birthday! Please do subscribe and enjoy all that DG has to offer.
You won't be disappointed with a subscription. You'll make a ton of friends and learn so much.
Doug
You won't regret one minuute of it and Happy Birthday.
Eek lol it's the big 3oh.... Lol I'm not happy about it! But I'll definitely be subscribing. The ones i lifted seem droop there was so much stem under the soil. one lost. But I'll keep my fingers crossed for the others, & there is always next year.
So today while i was all pumped up about getting the yard ready i decided i should lift the peonie roots that my hubbies great grandmother planted. I really went to town. I carefully removed about 10 peonies that were all about 7" deep and then got thinking I'll dig the whole thing up. There were some shoots of I'm not sure what that never bloomed. I ended up lifting something like 20 each of 2 kinds of bulbs from over a foot and a half deep! Needless to say they've been overdue to be divided and just when i was almost done i got this great accomplished feeling and i said to dustin, with my hand in the dirt "i really feel good about saving your great grandmas garden"....i felt something, & pulled out a brand new looking liberty dime from 1937, the year his family purchased the house!!! It was such a cool feeling! I really hope that they do better a little closer the the surface... And not getting mowed down! I'll be fertilizing them and waiting patiently till next spring to see what happens
Welcome to Dave's, Happy Early Birthday and Woohoo! on finding the dime! Must be an omen of good things to come. ^_^
Don't worry about the foliage dying back. They should come back fine next Spring. When we moved into our current home, we were told there were peonies growing in the lawn. We waited and saw spindly little leaves grow up and no flowers. On the advice of those given here, I moved them into the beds and have been rewarded every year since with beautiful flowers. The 1st year, one bloom, the next year 5 blooms. This year is the boom year!
Good luck, happy gardening and please keep us posted on their, and your, progress!
This is just one plant. I have 5 more.
This message was edited Jun 19, 2011 4:45 PM
Gorgeous kwanjin!!! I hope to at least have some better foliage next year, by the looks i may get some more this year too. Some were so deeply buried there was growth that never reached the surface. So i guess we shall see.
Outlaw, remember to mark the place with a garden cane so you don't dig or damage the tubers next year as you work or weed, the foliage of the Peony's will die and turn brown in autumn, and this is a good time to either cut away the dead foliage and lay a mulch around the root area to protect the tuber from frost etc, personally I leave the dead foliage till the next spring and cut it away as I weed and feed the peony's when they send out new shoots, In my climate the old foliage helps also to protect the tubers over our very cold winter. make sure you keep the peony bed free from weeds and each spring fork in a handful of multi purpose plant feed as your peony's are hungry plants and in the growing season also like a good drink of water to keep that large tuber plump and firm.
So happy you have decided to save your inherited peony's, so many of the old type are gone now and cant be replaced so you are very luck in dead, well done and good luck,
WeeNel.
Thanks WeeNel. :) i can't wait to see what comes up!
