Peony

My peony used to have a mass of lovely big pink flowers every year, but the last two years it has only had lots of healthy green leaves but not many flowers. I thought it needed divided up so I made a start this morning. I dug a massive hole but couldnt get down to the bottom of the roots and I am afraid I broke a lot of the tuberous roots. I now have a large SOLID ball which took two of us to lift out of the hole.
WHAT DO I DO WITH IT NOW??? No way could I get two forks in it to pull it apart like I've seen on T.V.

 

Mmmmm not certain that was the best idea - they can dislike moving and I betcha you find it appearing again where you took it out. I once tried to remove a peony - after a gap - it appeared again, and is now stronger than it was.

However you are where you are - forget the fork, and even a spade - I would split it with a saw. - or rather remove sections with at least a 6" piece of tuber/root including one of the cut stems if you can. Plant quite shallowly - just below the surface - I would put in containers and see what then shoots before planting out. Can take a while to establish

 

Thanks, wish I had asked before I dug it up. It was given to me years ago by someone who had split one in their garden, which had grown too big, so I thought I would do the same. Maybe I had better stop trying to split things up, first my lupins got mildew now my peony. At the moment it is sitting i a big bag of water. (Trying to soften solid root ball). It has already got a lot of little red shoots showing at base of stems.

 

Pretty please take it out of the bag of water fairly soon - you really don't want it waterlogging. Take a saw to split or sharp spade, but as they can be very woody, a saw would prolly be better.

Most plants split really well, though best done later in the year, when the ground is moist and the plants have died back, but peonies can be more difficult. I'm sure the splits will be fine and hopefully will re-establish in quick time.

I got some new peony root sections this year and was warned that I would have to wait for flowers- and whilst most only produced the odd leaf - one actually produced a flower. Plants don't read you see :D

 

Thanks again Fran for your advice,, will get it out of the water first thing in the morning if it hasn't drowned by then, do I let it dry out again in the sun before I saw it up?.