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Peonies as foundation plants

18 years ago

Hi, I am new to gardenweb...love all the postings.

I am not really into evergreens as foundation plants and am thinking of planting peonies. I don't have any peonies now. The area I am thinking of planting (3ft wide x 27ft long) is in the front of the house (East) which gets morning sun (filtered since there is a tree in front). Do peonies make good foundation plants? Is the area wide enough for peonies to get good air circulation?

The background for the peonies is a light tan/yellow brick wall (in summer there's ivy growing). Any suggestions on color that would look good against the wall?

I will be preparing the bed this summer and hoping to plant this fall.

Any suggestions?

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Comments (2)

User
18 years ago
Peonies can make a foundation planting depending on cultivar chosen. Start visiting the botanic gardens in the Chicago area and really look at the foliage. Some make good plants for what you have in mind. The colors vary depending on parentage. My foliage ranges from a sickly yellow green large leafed type to a darker medium leafed color. You would not want a true tenifolia because sometimes they go dormant too soon.

Two problems with using peonies as a foundation plantings are the soil may be very alkline, must have tested before planting, and herbaceous peonies die back to the ground and would not provide any winter coverage.

After the blooms are past you would need to cut the bloom stems off below the surface of the foliage so that the plants form a nicer shape.
LAA668984
18 years ago
I have peonies on one side of my foundation. They get full sun, and do very well. I planted them 20 yrs ago, and I do absolutely nothing to them, other than deadhead them. They do bloom a little earlier than my other bed, which is not along the foundation. Even when not in flower, peonies make a nice, full hedge. I think they look great as a foundation planting, if you don't want an evergreen.
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It's such a small space with heat radiating off both the house and sidewalk. There's no space for dwarf conifers. Miniature conifers, perhaps, but they tend to be costly and they grow too; and that environment might be too harsh. Not being defeatist, but it seems to be be too small an area to get super creative Keep the weigela if it does well, scrap the rest. I think sedums might be a good bet, tho I've never had one of the red stemmed varieties do anything other than get straggly; they never turn into a nice clump, but the green/blue green ones do much better at clumping and not flopping. There are so many varieties out there - Gertens or any of the other TC garden centers are bound to have dozens to choose from. Maybe you could find the nice rounded Artemisia "Silver Mound" - that's a plant right at home in a dry location. For a little summer color, I'd make the small investment in a market pack or two of simple old marigolds.
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maifleur, thank you for your thoughts. i'm not looking to necessarily kill whatever it is that's eating my peonies. I just want to find out what the insect/worm is. i am mostly an organic gardener, so i have a very "live and let live" attitude in my garden. Your suggestions make me think that it may be earwigs now. that said, i had a bumper crop of peonies this season -- in northern california no less! -- so the loss of a few blooms isn't catistropic. i'm just curious as who's doing the nibbling :) again, many thanx for your suggestions. joyce
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If you have the umbrella pine 10 ft from the house it is going to receive comparatively minimal benefit from its presence. And walls make wind worse, by compressing it - when the wind gets into where the walls are. Except where there are enough wall angles to have some effect on wind movement the main benefit of walls to plants is by providing added warmth from reflected heat, or cooling shadows. And to get in on this plants need to be against walls or similarly close. Later when it is sizing up the umbrella pine may seem too big to be even 10 ft. from the house. And to have gotten to that point it will have to have survived the wind and ice anyway - the house would only help with ice if it provided a long extended roof that the conifer was growing beneath.
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What's the "tree" that is there now? Maybe that can go to that left corner. FYI the shape you show on the right = a small shrub at most - the large shrub category covers ones a lot taller than that. Might work best to convert the small section of lawn between the house and the walk into bed, concentrate your planting there. At any rate I wouldn't line the walk with anything, rather have the lawn come right to the walk.
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