• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • Plant Based Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Vegetarian Meals
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Indoor Herb Gardening
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Best Peony Growing Tips

May 4, 2011 by Jeanne

These peony growing tips will give you lush, beautiful peonies in no time at all. Peonies offer most gardeners a great flowering shrub for the yard.

picture of a peony in the rain to illustrate easy peony growing tips

Peony Growing Tips

With these peony growing tips, your peony bush can thrive and live many, many years.

Peony Growing Success Starts with Knowledge

Growing peonies successfully takes a little bit of know-how, but once your peony plants become established, they will reward you with beautiful, fragrant flowers for many years to come.

Peonies are herbaceous perennials. The common garden peony, pictured here, is called a Paeonia hybrid. Tree peonies are another type of peony found in many gardens. Tree peonies are properly referred to as Paeonia suffruticosa. These tips for growing peonies refers to growing garden peonies.

Growing Zones for Peonies

Peonies may be successfully grown in gardens ranging from zone 2 to zone 8. They need a period of cold weather and freezing temperatures during the winter months to be at their best. If you live in a subtropical or tropical zone, peonies probably aren’t for you. If you’re not sure what gardening zone you live in, in the United States you can enter your zip code to find your USDA Hardiness Zone.

picture of a white peony flower and buds

Choose the Growing Site Carefully for Peony Plants

Among my peony growing tips, these are the most important for your success. Despite a reputation for being fussy and hard to grow, I find peonies are actually fairly easy to grow. The trick is planting them correctly – and in a location that provides them with what they need. Peony growing tips start with matching the plant to the location.

Light

Peonies require full sunlight. That means six or more hours a day of bright, direct sunshine on their leaves. Peonies won’t thrive and bloom if they get too much shade.

Soil

Peonies need rich, well-drained soil. Adding compost to the soil during planting is a good idea, especially if you have either clay or sandy loam soil. The soil pH should be between 6.5 and 7.5 – slight alkaline.

Water

Water peonies well after planting or dividing them. Provide them with supplemental water during periods of prolonged drought. Mulching around peonies helps the soil stay moist and prevents evaporation.

When to Plant Peonies

Peonies can be planted in either the fall or the spring. You can plant a root, typically sold in bags at garden centers in the springtime, or a mature plant in a pot or container. Choose the location carefully, keeping in mind the need for full sunlight. That’s important because peonies just don’t bloom in partial to full shade. (Can you tell I’ve tried it and been disappointed?)

Peony Growing Tips for the Home Garden

Peonies need space, and they can’t be disturbed for many years. Leave at least three feet of space between peony bushes and choose your site carefully.

Disturbing or transplanting peonies often puts them into a sulk, and they refuse to bloom for a while until the shock of being moved wears off. Be certain of where you want them when you plant them.

Planting Peonies

If you are planting a container-grown peony, dig the hole for the plant twice as wide and deep as the container. Add plenty of aged manure or compost into the planting hole and mix some into the soil you’ve put aside when you dug the hole.

Gently release the peony from its container by turning it on its side and tapping (not whacking, tapping) along the bottom and sides of the pot. It should slide out easily. If it doesn’t, don’t tug on the stem – breaking the stem can be disastrous.

Once you have the plant out of the pot, place it in the hole. If you’re not sure how deep to plant the peony, look for any eyes – small, round, reddish colored growth near the soil surface – and plant the peony with the eyes no deeper than one to two inches. Backfill the hole and gently press the soil down around the plant. Water the newly planted people, then add mulch around the peony plant.

How to Plant Boxes Peonies (Peony Roots)

When planting roots, it is best to plant them during the fall or cool spring days as soon as the soil can be worked. Dig a shallow hole and mix plenty of aged compost into the hole. Place the root into the hole with the red eye buds about one to two inches below the soil surface. Cover the root with soil. Don’t plant it any deeper than one to two inches. I know it feels wrong, but if you plant the root too deeply, it won’t grow, or your peony may have trouble blooming.

Once the peony root is planted, tap the soil down gently with the palm of your hand, water, and mulch.

Support for Heavy Blossoms – Peony Hoops

You may want to place a peony hoop or support around the newly planted peony flower. Hybrid peonies can develop tall stems ranging from two to four feet in height. The heavy flower heads tend to tip the stems over. After heavy rain, many peony flowers get knocked to the ground.

Peony hoops are metal plant supports that consist of a ring, with movable support rods or legs around the hoop. You place it around the peony plant so that the hoop is about 2 feet tall. As the plant grows, it grows up and into the center of the hoop. If the flowers start to drag the stems downward, the hoops support them to keep them upright.

Peony Pests, Problems, and Diseases

Peonies really are some of the easiest flowers to grow once you learn how to select the appropriate site and plant them properly. They’re rarely bothered by pests.

Insects

Ants on peonies are a common sight and nothing to panic about. Ants are attracted to the sweet nectar of the peony flower. They won’t eat the peony or harm it in any way. If you want to get rid of ants before cutting peony blossoms to bring into the house, wash them off with water from the garden hose.

Diseases

Fungal diseases such as botrytis blight can strike peonies in warm, moist climates and after a particularly wet spring. Signs include leaves and flower buds that turn black and fall off. To prevent this blight, clean up any spent leaves and trim the peony plant back in the fall. Keep the area around the plant clear from fallen leaves and debris and don’t over water.

With their beautiful flowers, fragrance and easy-going nature, growing peonies is a must for the backyard gardener. Add some hybrid peonies to your garden this year and delight in them for many years to come.

Pin2
Share
Tweet
2 Shares

Filed Under: Growing Flowers

Previous Post: « Organic Gardening for Lazy Gardeners
Next Post: Types of Roses for the Home Garden »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. tina

    May 4, 2011 at

    Wonderful!! My favorite flower-I can almost smell them from here! Those tree peonies can be tough cookies. Glad yours came back!

Trackbacks

  1. Are Ants on a Peony Bush says:
    September 16, 2015 at

    […] Peony Growing Tips […]

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Explore All Gardening Articles

Seed Starting Basics

Easy Ways to Save Cantaloupe Seeds

plants and tools in a wheelbarrow

Starting Peppers from Seeds

tomato seedlings

Seed Starting Resources

tomatoes on the vine

When Should You Start Tomato Seeds Indoors?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Disclosure

Home Garden Joyo participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy.

Footer

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

If you’re thinking about building a vegetable garden this year, raised beds are one of the best ways I know of to start a vegetable garden. Instead of renting a rototiller or hand-digging the soil, adding amendments and turning it all under to create a good garden bed, you start with the best soil mixture…

Read More

henbit close up

Henbit: Plant Profile

I’ve put together this henbit plant profile to spotlight a lovely plant – which many gardeners consider a weed. Weed or flower? To me, it’s a matter of perspective. Every spring, at least one of my raised beds is covered in a thick mat of henbit. Henbit is both lovely and practical despite being labeled…

Read More

fresh beets from the garden on the lawn after being washed

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Organic Beets

I wrote this Ultime Guide to Growing Beets to share my techniques for growing tasty, organic beets. Beets are a powerhouse of nutrition. Both the beetroot and the leaves and stems are edible. You can also can beets and beet greens to store them for year-round use. Here, I share with you a full guide…

Read More

a blue wheelbarrow and a red wheelbarrow filled with pine branches

Winter Homesteading Projects

Even though it’s cold and snowy out, winter homesteading projects beckon. As I write this, snow is falling in sheets outside my office windows, covering the orchard trees with a blanket of white. Last week, an ice storm knocked power out for 36 hours – and knocked pines down every which way. We had poles…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme