Growing peony flowers is an easy way to add some beautiful and vibrant buds to your garden area. Here's a complete guide on how to grow them year after year.
Caring for Peonies
- Peonies should be planted in a location that gets full sun.
- Water your newly planted peonies so the soil is saturated an inch per week. When they are more about a year old, you can water less frequently every 10-14 days.
- Peony flowers need well-draining soil to prevent root rot and fungus.
- You should plant your peony tubers in the fall.
How to plant peony tubers
Dig a hole so you can fit your tuber in with the pink spikes facing upward. You should try to only have about ½ inch -1 inch of soil covering the top of this root.
If you plant these too deep, they won't produce as many flowers.
Those same pink spikes will be what you see when your peony sprouts!
Why are there ants crawling on my peonies?
Ants are attracted to the nectar that's on the outside of each peony bud.
Peony flowers provide food for these ants, and in exchange the ants help protect your peonies from other floral feeding insects.
After picking your peonies, gently shake the flower upside down to remove any ants that might still be on them.
FAQ
They are attracted to the nectar on the outside of a peony bud. You will usually see them before the flower blooms.
Peonies do best in full sun with a location that gets about 6-8 hours of sunlight.
The tuber should be planted ½ inch -1 inch below ground.
Fall is the best time so plant peony tubers or bare roots. Don't worry about frost, as these roots are winter-hardy.
New peonies can sometimes get top heavy. For this reason, I personally like to use these peony plant stakes.
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