Peony Question

Hi,

I have a Bowl of Beauty peony that I have yet to plant. I'm looking for some general advice about when this should be planted and when I can expect it to come into bloom as I have read that it can take anything up to three years for peonies to bloom. What do you guys think in your experience?

Thanks.

 

Yes, any I have planted have taken at least two years, probably three.
I think you should plant it asap.

 

It will probably take a couple of years to start to have flowers depending on your soil/water etc. Be sure to plant deep, well below where the graft is and personally I thickly mulch with manure to feed and conserve moisture. Once the plants has established itself below ground which is where most of the "activity" goes on with a newly planted, then you'll start to get the big "mama jo" flowers.I'd plant it asap to give it plenty of time to get established

 

No, no ,no. Paeonia Bowl of Beauty is a P. lactiflora type and it is a herbaceous perennial, not a P suffruticosa type which are shrubs. It should be planted in good rich soil with the top of the bud no more than an inch below the surface. Deep planting is the main reason why this type of Paeony does not flower, it needs cold ripening to change the growth buds from leaf ones to flower ones. Keep it well watered and feed it with Tomorite in early Spring and it should flower next year, if it is a reasonable size plant. Obviously if it is a baby one then it will take a little longer.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I have decided to plant it in a 10cm pot for now as I haven't decided where the final planting place will be yet.

 

I planted one last year ... it slowly shriveled and died ... some people told me that it had the peony virus .... I dug it out and destroyed it

this year, it has started growing again so obviously, I never removed the whole plant ... it seems to be doing pretty well now .... it is a Karl Rosenfield

 

Spot on

"with the top of the bud no more than an inch below the surface"

I plant mine more shallow than that - tuber and bud right on the surface - and I haven't had all the transplanting issues that I read about. I moved a bunch of Peonies a couple of years back and split them up to make 30 or 40 plants, they all flowered the next spring (although they were more bushy in following seasons)

 

Exactly. But for those worried about having planted too deeply, they can and do move themselves to where they went to be.......eventually, which is why even large plants can take time to flower.

 

Hi all,
Sorry to hijack but i have a tree Peonie that i want to move. Its been in the ground for about 5 years now and still only has about 2 to 3 large flowers a year, but it is very slowley getting taller.
I want to transplant it to another position but have heard how difficult that can be. Any advice ?

regards
G

 

If you must then do it when the bush is dormant, say September/October or early Spring. Usual rules about moving shrubs apply.