It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

With apologies to Andy Williams, Football, & College BB Seasons, Peony Season (IMO) holds serve on that there definition.

Things just POPPED overnight; submit yer pics! It's the Last Hurrah for them there Photo-Bombing Gypsy Bearded Irises.

The Gotch

Fantastic!

The Gotch

Those are beautiful! I love the smell of peonies. Unfortunately our new place only has this one mangy little one that doesn't do well in the clay soil.

I guess I have peonies envy.

@DriftlessRoots I love the single Peonies. It will fill in in time. I think that she is adorable!

The Gotch

I only have one peony but I love it!

What's the secret to getting peonies to flower? My mom has had the same two peony bushes in her yard for many years. They used to be covered in huge flowers every spring. Now they get big round buds that should become flowers, but only a few of them ever open. There's no obvious disease; they seem to be healthy. Is there some fertilizer regimen I need to know about? Can they become too crowded and stop blooming? Might it be an hours of sunshine issue? (Some trees have grown taller over the years and shade that flower bed a little more than before.) Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:37 pm What's the secret to getting peonies to flower? My mom has had the same two peony bushes in her yard for many years. They used to be covered in huge flowers every spring. Now they get big round buds that should become flowers, but only a few of them ever open. There's no obvious disease; they seem to be healthy. Is there some fertilizer regimen I need to know about? Can they become too crowded and stop blooming? Might it be an hours of sunshine issue? (Some trees have grown taller over the years and shade that flower bed a little more than before.) Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Perhaps an answer may be found in here: https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/ ... al%20sites.

The Gotch

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 8:59 am

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:37 pm What's the secret to getting peonies to flower?

Perhaps an answer may be found in here: https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/ ... al%20sites.

The Gotch

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to make of this information. Of the explanations in the link, the ones that seem possibly relevant to my mom's peony patch are: too much shade (though I think it probably does get at least 5-6 hours of direct sun), clump too old or dense, and too much nitrogen (due to lawn fertilizer probably spilling over into the bed). But those problems are all linked to "Buds Don't Appear." She's getting plenty of large, healthy-looking buds; they just don't ever open.

For the "buds appear but don't open" list, our last really hard freeze this year was 25 degrees on 3/21; after that, the lowest official temperature was 30 degrees on April 9, and it probably didn't get that low at my mom's house. Would you expect 30-32 degrees for a few hours to damage buds? Come to think of it, the hydrangeas didn't bloom this year due to a late freeze, so maybe that's the explanation for the peonies. Not cold enough to obviously fry the buds; just cold enough to prevent most of them from opening.

These big Shocking White 'uns give me a hankerin' for smashed spuds... The Gotch

After snipping the good, the dead, and near dead, this the last of 'em; good 'uns, that is. Glass half full?

Ain't even Summer in these here parts, yet!

The Gotch

Ours haven't opened yet, for obvious reasons.
My two peonies are so neglected, and one of them is down to a single shoot!
I would like to move it to a better spot, so the question is, can I do it now or must I wait? The shoot on it is about six inches tall, leaves have not yet greened up or fully opened.
If it shouldn't be moved, I will just have to weed it as well as I can in the dreadful spot.

Bower wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 6:43 am Ours haven't opened yet, for obvious reasons.
My two peonies are so neglected, and one of them is down to a single shoot!
I would like to move it to a better spot, so the question is, can I do it now or must I wait? The shoot on it is about six inches tall, leaves have not yet greened up or fully opened.
If it shouldn't be moved, I will just have to weed it as well as I can in the dreadful spot.

Since the leaves have not opened you can move them now if you dig deep and wide. They will need some TLC this year with extra watering.