Cutting back peonies
florananny
5 years ago
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florananny
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Cutting back peonies in Spring?
Comments (2)Very carefully raise the stems that are left of last years growth and cut off just above the ground. The reason I say very carefully is that depending on the cultivar the new growth could be cut off if you just sheared everything off. bye-bye flowers. I mayself leave the stems until late winter. This said leaving the stems etc could increase the chances of fungial growth and or root rot in a very wet year....See Morecut back peonies?
Comments (1)A small peony, herbaceous, can not be cut back to make it fuller. A tree peony can be pruned/cut back to make it bushier or taller depending on the cultivar. You probably have a herbaceous.You can help it by keeping the grass from around it and giving a very light feeding of a vegetable fertilizer now and in September. I use 10-10-10 myself but others use different types. You can use the pelletized fertilizer but in some soils the pellets remain and do not dissolve so that the soil lots like it has lots of snail eggs. A good book for a beginner is Pamela McGeorge's "Peonies". Your library may have a copy of they could get it for you using the lending system many libraries have. Try not to cut the plant down. 1. You might find the foliage very interesting. 2. Foliage feeds the roots. An older plant can stand the foliage being removed better than a younger plant. This fall, early winter carefully remove the foliage after it has browned by cutting the stems,I am assuming it is herbaceous not tree, about three inches above the ground. Since you are in Oklahoma and probably are in the heavy rain area this year when it becomes dry you can put about a inch of mulch arround the plant to hold the moisture in the soil arround the roots. If the plants starts wilting in the 100+ temps you sometimes get do not water it during the day. A little shade cloth can help the wilting but water at 100+ may cause the plant to cook. When it finally blooms please post a picture....See MoreNormal end of season die-back?
Comments (4)I have a tree peony that all of a sudden started to look just like your peony. Same situation - west exposure, hot weather. I was watering about two times a week, thinking that poor plant needs it, being very young. Every day it would just look worse. At some point it just looked dead. So I've decided to dig it up, see what's happening (this was about a month ago). The portion of the plant that was in the ground was all mushy and rotting. I wanted to put it in the garbage but I thought that if it's really dead, it won't matter if I just leave it in the ground. Which I did and watered less. It now has a new branch coming from the ground. I am thinking that it is possible that you water too much? Valentina...See Moretree vs herbaceous peonies--how can I tell the difference?
Comments (5)Tree peonies have trunks :) Seriously, a tree peony has a woody structure like a small tree that remains over the winter and then grows new leaves next spring. Almost always there will be a single woody trunk emerging from the ground which will branch at quite a low level. Occasionally you may get multiple trunks, either from the tree peony branching below ground level, or from root suckers. A herbaceous peony is herbaceous :) Can you tell I'm on a roll today? Herbaecous means that it dies down to the ground in the winter, then grows brand new stalks and leaves next spring. The typical habit is lots of individual stalks will grow out of the ground from a central crown....See Moreflorananny
5 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
5 years agoflorananny thanked woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., CanadaBruce (Vancouver Island)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoflorananny thanked Bruce (Vancouver Island)florananny
5 years agoBruce (Vancouver Island)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoflorananny thanked Bruce (Vancouver Island)Bruce (Vancouver Island)
5 years agoBruce (Vancouver Island)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoflorananny thanked Bruce (Vancouver Island)florananny
5 years agoflorananny
5 years ago
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