I planted a couple of peonies several years ago in a sunny bed that's now a shady bed. No blooms the first year as expected, a few blooms in year 2, lots of blooms in years 3 and 4. Last year, only three or four blooms total.
While I think part of the issue is little to no direct sun at this point, I also came across some information recently that indicated DFW is on the most southern edge (not enough cold/cooling hours) of where peonies do well and flower reliably. Since this isn't a plant that you can just plop in the ground or move from spot to spot and expect it to bloom within the first year to see if it likes the spot where you planted it, what's your experience?
Plant seems healthy, is tended to properly, mulched well and on the whole looks good except... few flowers this past season. A common issue? The silly plant just flowers better some years than others? Try moving it? Give up and forward to someone who really wants a white frilly peony flower with a red center?
Thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.
Steve
Peonies in Dallas
Steve, why did the sunny bed become a shady bed? Can you make it sunnier again?
I'm from the Midwest and was determined to have some of my favorites when I moved to Texas (peonies, lilacs, cherry trees, etc), in spite of everyone saying they wouldn't live. I tried several times to get a peony to do well down here and had the same results you did-the plant would live but little to no blooms. I'm further north up by the Red River, too, and still didn't have success with any of them. They need a COLD winter to bloom so you would probably see better blooms in years the winters were worse, not so many in warmer years. I've been told there are cultivars that do better down here but haven't investigated what they are. It might be worth checking into. If you find some that like Texas, please let us all know!
Someone said that if you put ice on the ground during winter they will do better, of course i don't know how well that works.
Carrie, the peonies were planted when a small red oak tree was planted in that corner so lots of sun. Now, the red oak shades that corner completely although this year, I did raise the canopy somewhat to get more light underneath.
They can still bloom well in shade but do better in sun in my opinion. Can you thin the oak or limb it up?
Here is a bed of some at my parents' house in middle TN and this bed is under an enormous pecan.
Two things (I think):
1. I've heard from lots of people in Dallas that they grow peonies. This was a major surprise to me b/c I remember that my mother grew them when I was a child in northern Illinois which is obviously a very different climate.
2. Do think twice or thrice about thinning or 'limbing up' your red oak tree. One shouldn't do anything to trees, esp. oaks, just 'cuz one would like a 'different' look. If a limb is in danger of falling on a power line or crashing into your or your neighbor's skylight, that's different. If you're determined to do more cutting on your red oak, be sure to google to find the appropriate time(s) of the year to do so. (If I had a better memory I would just tell you when!) This is very impt. with red oaks and live oaks as they are the 2 types of oaks that are susceptible to the dreaded and usually fatal oak wilt disease.
Lots of Peonies in my garden.
Here is what I have learn from a lecture at Nicholson-Hardie nursery:
Full Sun
Away from large shrubs and large trees
Also, the peony will go almost dormant in the summer, so do not plant it by your front door. Only my Itoh peonies are green in the summer.
Peony don't need much care at all.
My peonies bloom at the end of March and during April.
More peonies from my garden
How deep is the peony planted? When trying to get peonies to bloom in an area such as yours that is close to the upper limit of the range for peonies, it is best to plant them so that the 'crown' of growing tip is w/in 1in of the soil surface - very shallow. Peonies need a certain amount of cold in winter to bloom in spring/summer. Shallow planting insures maximum exposure to the what cold weather you receive.
Also, if you live in an area which gets pretty hot in summer (too much heat will cause buds to drop prematurely), consider choosing early flowering varieties, as these will have a better chance at blooming before the weather gets too hot and should thus put on a better show.
Since it isn't feasible to move the existing plants around the yard/garden to determine what works, what about buying a few new ones with which to experiment? Put one in the sunniest spot you can find, even if it's not where you would most like it to reside - the idea here being just to see if the sun or lack thereof really is the problem. If you don't want to dig up a new spot, you might even consider putting the new/test peony in a large pot so that you can move it about the yard in search of the right spot.
I'm outside of the range where peonies can be expected to bloom. We rarely get enough cold here to cause a peony to set buds, and any buds which do form are likely to be killed by soaring temps in mid to late spring. Still, I do get a handful of blooms now and then from a few peonies in large pots, nothing like what folks get in colder areas but then I'm lucky to get any blooms at all here in Zone 9. With their roots in pots above ground, they get greater exposure to what cold we do get. My potted peonies have managed to survive the summer heat here for almost a decade now. (The pots are 1.5 - 2ft in diameter.)
I'm not suggesting you try these things with your favorite peony, only with a new and relatively inexpensive 'test' peony. (Sorry, I realize I'm not actually gardening in TX, but according to some very detailed zone maps, the weather in Charleston, SC is very close to that in the SE quadrant of TX.)
Charleston is close to Dallas heat- but your humidity and sand are closer to Houstons area. I always thought Tarheel around Fayetteville was more like the DFW metroplex in weather. Umm, like the area on the southern side of DFW.
Hi, kittriana,
Yes, our weather is closer to that in the Houston area - but that's still TX (i.e. TX Gardening). :-)
I'm in 9a, possibly 9b even. It was not my intention to equate my climate with that of Mesquite, TX. I mentioned the similarity between my area and that of SE TX somewhat in jest, to atone for my being over here in the TX Gardening Forum (and realizing that Mesquite is not in the SE quadrant of the state anyhow). All that said, even as I type this the news guy is saying that it is 80F in Dallas today. Interestingly, it is 79F here at the moment. Pretty close. ;-)
I mentioned my own fight with peonies only to explain that I have wrestled with the problems of trying to get peonies to bloom in an area where it is too hot in summer and not cold enough in winter. I am just outside of peony range, while Skeeter is near the border but still in range. Our situations are not the same, but we are both facing the same issues just to a much different degree.
For Skeeter, beautiful peony blooms are quite possible, as illustrated by Drthor's lovely pictures, while for me a handful of blooms now and then are the best I can hope for in Zone 9. Having experienced the difficulties associated with trying to grow peonies in a warmer climate and having learned what can realistically be done to combat those problems, I merely wanted to offer some of the tips which have worked for me. Planting peonies with the eyes just below the surface in warmer areas is time honored advice as is that of choosing early blooming varieties in areas where early summer heat may lead to bud blast.
My suggestion of possibly trying an inexpensive test plant in a large pot is substantiated by my own success with potted peonies. While it is humid here, that does not prevent pots from becoming desert parched under the sweltering, summer sun, but my potted peonies have managed to survive and even bloom. I'm not suggesting that Skeeter convert to potted peonies, only that a test plant in a large pot would solve the expressed portability issues, allowing him/her to move the test plant to various locations around the yard to determine if sun or lack thereof is the problem and do so w/o having to dig lots of holes in the lawn.
It isn't sandy in my area, btw, only right on the ocean - multimillion dollar real estate far beyond my means. I'm about 15min from the ocean. Here we are plagued more with clay rather than sand, a white or greyish clay not the red stuff most of us think of as clay. To combat the clay, I amended my entire yard with over 2 tons of compost - a wonderful boom for landscape and garden but an unanticipated problem for both my white MBR carpet (it seems to find its way inside no matter what I do) and my driveway, walkway, and sidewalks, all darkened by the 'black gold' runoff. But as usual, I digress.
Incidentally, there is a reason why the weather here in Charleston mimics that not of our own state but of the gulf region, including SE TX. After years of head scratching over this, I've finally solved this riddle, having learned that it is the Gulf Stream, bringing an endless stream of warm, Gulf Coast water directly to our shore which is responsible for the warm climate here in Charleston and for the unexpected similarity between our weather and yours.
I am for some odd reason always surprised when weather has simple logical explanations like that.
It could be that there are simple, logical explanations for all of it, and we humans just haven't managed to figure them out yet. :-)
High tide, full moon, and the gravitational pull of the earth... hadnt considered the Gulf Stream- but I KNOW the ocean water on the east is warm and nice in wintertime, but the supposedly warm waters of the Pacific will freeze you more often than not. Alabama and Georgia have that red clay, but I have noticed the light colors of the silicate sands along the shorelines.
Yes, Dream of Spring, probably--we're so dumb about a lot of things.