Video:Peony Care Tips

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Transcript:Peony Care Tips

Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen for About.com Garden, and today we are going to learn all about growing Peony or Paeonia. However you want to pronounce it, my rule of thumb is pronounce it the way people around you pronounce it. So if you are around gardeners that say peony, say peony. If you are around people who say paeonia, say paeonia.

Peony Climate

But they are a beautiful plant that’s been around for centuries. And I love them because the colder the climate the better they do. In fact, I have found peony if you live in a warmer climate and we have a really mild winter you don’t get as many blooms as if you have a colder winter. So if you live in a warm climate, you have to dig them up and put them into the refrigerator for couple months or just put some ice on them every winter for few times. I heard that trick works really well too.

Peony Roots

Now Peonies grow from a root stock, sometimes they are called a tuber and it’s the fall, so winter they’ve died back. So when the stems die back I just chop them off. I love them though because they have gorgeous fall foliage through the fall, gorgeous burgundy colored.

Crowd Peony Plants for Blooms

These are the eyes, the eyes are what matters. So as long as you have an eye, you can get another plant. And they like to be crowded. So at that point too I am not going to divide this root out. I like to keep them on the crowded side 'cause more crowded they are the more blooms you get. And so when you plant them you want the eye to be up and you don’t want to plant them very deep. You only want to cover about one inch above that eye. If you plant them too deep, they are not going to bloom very well. It might take years to get blooms.

Plants Eyes Up

So put them away from the house where they are going to get as cold as possible. Don’t put them against the eves and make sure only plant them about an inch above the eye. Yes, when I plant it back down, I just want to make sure and cover it up. So that the eyes are just barely covered.

Be Patient

You can mix them with other thing too like tulips or Daffodils. A lot of times they are not going to grow a lot into the later spring. Once you plant them just ignore them and remember you might not get a lot of blooms the first, second or even third year. Peony has to be root bound to get good blooms. So my rule of thumb is don’t nag them, ignore them. Plant them, leave them alone, they are going to come up and they are going to give you green greenery probably the first few years before it even get blooms. Then all of a sudden you are going to have a big bush, that is just going to be filled with peony flowers that you can cut and enjoy in the home as well.

Thanks for watching this video, for more information visit us on the Web at About.com.