September is the best time to plant peonies. Summer residents love this flower no less than the queen of the garden, the rose. Our consultant, Honored Agronomist of Russia, Head of the Laboratory of Ornamental Cultures of the All-Russian Institute of Selection and Technology of Horticulture and Nursery, Antonina Artyukhova, tells how to grow these flowers on your own site.
16 September 2017
Peonies are terry, semi-double, simple and Japanese. The most convenient in planting varieties with self-cleaning flowers, the petals of which fall off themselves. Planting peonies with different flowering periods can extend the beauty of the flower bed up to 2 months. To emphasize the airy tenderness of peony flowers, they are planted, shading them with a bell, bearded irises. Compositions of peonies with daylilies, oriental poppies and blue sage look great.
A peony can grow in one place without transplanting for up to 60 years or more, so the planting site must be chosen carefully, because the beauty of flowering will be admired not only by you, but also by your great-grandchildren. Peonies love an open and sunny area that is not afraid of flooding. The best planting material is a 1-2-year-old plant grown in a nursery or obtained from a small cut with 2-3 buds and a piece of rhizome, with completely renewed young light roots and large buds. You can transplant and divide peony bushes every 5-6 years.
If you decide to transplant peonies or dug up old bushes for propagation, you need to plant the plant in a new place, letting the soil rest for two years before replanting peonies in this place. To store the planting material, if it is not possible to plant it immediately, it should be no longer than two weeks in moss or sawdust, in a cool dry place.
When transplanting, the bush is carefully dug out, the ground is washed off with a stream of water, diseased roots are cut out, and the long ones are shortened to 10-15 cm. The bush is transplanted whole or divided into 4 divisions, after removing dry and damaged shoots to a living bud. Each division should have 2-3 kidneys. When planting, there should be a distance of 60-100 cm between the plants. Into the planting pit we add a bucket of compost, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
In the first year of flowering, it is better to cut peonies as soon as possible so that the plant takes root and grows stronger. This will provide more lush bloom the next year. Leaves of dead plants can be cut off not earlier than the end of September. In early October, peonies can be covered with a layer of peat 10-15 cm. In spring, peat must be carefully raked out before sprouts appear. The best fertilizers for peonies are mineral fertilizers with a low percentage of nitrogen and a high content of phosphorus and potassium, bone meal, wood ash. In the snow or immediately after it has melted, mineral fertilizers must be applied, and then fertilization is combined with watering. During the season, peonies are watered abundantly 2-3 times at the rate of 1-2 buckets per bush. The soil around the plant should be loose and free of weeds. To prevent gray rot, plants are sprayed twice – before flowering and immediately after it – with copper chloride (4 g / meter or 40 g / 10 liters of water).
Peony – an imperial flower, a symbol of longevity, wealth and glory