In writing this article, I am keeping in mind one who has never had any experience with the peony and wishes to plant a few roots without making too many mistakes in doing so.
In the first place, one must remember that the peony is a long-time proposition.
We planted our first peonies in our yard over 40 years ago, and they are still there and doing well. In fact, some of these old plants did better this year than ever before.
In making your first peony planting, get varieties that will be sure to please. Then, plant them in the right places, and give them proper care afterward.
If this is done, these same peonies will bloom in your garden as long as you live.
Ideal Planting And Growing Conditions
Peonies planted in full sun, spaced 4” feet apart each way, do best. They can stand partial shade, but this is not so good.
Be careful, in planting, not to set your plants too close to large trees as the roots of a tree run out in all directions (one and one-half times its height) and sap the soil of its food values.
Keep away from large shrubs such as bush honeysuckles and snowballs.
After your peonies grow and come into blooming, do not dig down into your plant to split off a toe to give to your fellow member.
This is one of the worse things that can happen to your plant.
Best Way To Divide Peony Clump
The best-sized root to plant is a division of a peony clump, about the size of the average man’s hand, with 3 to 5 eyes.
More eyes than 5 eyes do not add any value to the root.
Here’s what to do:
- Have the ground well-prepared; when ready to plant, take one root at a time, keeping all other roots covered.
- Dig a hole about the size and depth of a half-bushel basket.
- Sift about an inch of rich, well-pulverized soil back into the hole and tramp this down hard.
- Sift onto this a handful of either bone meal or superphosphate 20.
- But better still, if you have a farmer friend, get him to bring you a couple of bushels of rich, well-rotted barnyard manure.
- Put in a two-inch layer of this, and tramp it down hard.
- Sift onto this good soil, and keep it tramped until the hole is filled so that when you place the peony root in it, the plant’s crown is just two inches below the surface level.
- Draw in the soil, and tramp solid.
- Keep soil stirred about the plant until the ground freezes, and then put on a mulch of straw or hay for the first winter.
Best Peony Planting Time
When is the best time to plant?
Long years of experience have taught us that a peony in our latitude can be planted any time from August 6th until the ground freezes.
All winter, we should say, in the South. Peonies can be planted with equal success in the spring if more carefully handled.
We have handled peonies in the spring for more than 80 years with excellent results.
Our roots are dug in the fall, and we have a building where we can hold them in perfect condition all winter.
They look as fresh as when dug from the field in the spring.
Common Peony Diseases
The peony’s main disease is botrytis, a stem disease caused by wet, warm weather during the growing season.
The growing stems turn black and wilt. There are also some diseases of the foliage.
For these, the young growing shoots should be either dusted or sprayed with Bordeaux.
Start as soon as shoots are 5″ to 6″ inches high.
Repeat at ten-day intervals until blossom buds show color and continue until after blooms have fallen if wet weather follows.
Root rot, which sometimes gets into the peony, can be controlled by digging and dividing the roots, cleaning out the rot, and then immersing the roots for 30 minutes in a bath of lukewarm water to which a fungicide has been added.
Time-Tested Peony Varieties For Beginners
For the beginner who is looking for varieties of peonies to plant that he can be sure will satisfy him for years to come, I submit the following list of time-tested sorts, varieties that never seem to have anything go wrong with them:
For the splendid whites:
- Duchess de Nemours
- Festiva Maxima
- Frances Willard
- Baroness Schroeder
The good and dependable pinks are:
- Mons. Jules Elie
- Sarah Bernhardt
The ner-failing reds:
- Felix Crousse
- Karl Rosenfield
- Mary Brand
Newer Varieties Perfect For Winning Big Shows
Then for the person who wishes to plant the newer sorts, the wonderful kinds always seen in the winning classes at the big shows, I submit a partial list of what I consider the best.
- Arcturus
- Charm
- Dorothy J.
- Edwin C. Shaw
- Elsa Sass
- Hansina Brand
- Kelways Glorious
- LeCygne
- Liberty Bell
- Martha Bulloch
- Mrs. F. D. Roosevelt
- Mrs. Livingstone Farrand
- Mrs. W. L. Gumm
- Myrtle Gentry
- Nick Shaylor
- Philippe Rivoire
- Phyllis Kelway
- President Wilson
- Souvenir de Louis Bigot
- Tempest
- Therese
- Tourangelle
- Walter Faxon
To this list, I could have added fully as many others equally as good that I have tried out over the years and know to be dependable.
Five Old Time Peonies
And now, in closing, it will not be out of place to jot down the names of five more varieties, the very newest of the new peonies just on the horizon.
Ruth Elizabeth and Burma are dark reds, seemingly perfect in every respect.
Kansas is a medium shade of red, a flower of immense size, and a perfect form.
Doris Cooper is a light pink American Peony Society Gold Medal winner, and Mattie LaFuze, is pink of absolutely perfect form, which seems to have the perfection of an ideal specimen of Solange.
Watch these five new peonies.
44659 by AM Brand