Peonies glorify summery June garden landscapes
Late May brought the first early-blooming peonies (Paeonia) to area gardens to begin the month-long show of lavish beauty. These “bomb-shells,” the biggest and showiest of them all, always seem to arrive just before the rains, frequently demanding my presence to gently shake out the water-filled blooms and tie up the beaten-down stems with twine.
After their lavish display ends in a heap of silken burgundy petals under the bushes, the next group comes on stage - the open-face Oriental-types which draw bees and myriad other pollinators to their generous pollen harvest as well as appreciative butterflies and hummingbirds.
I’m lucky to have a full six- to eight-week display from my many peony shrubs – the oldest three of which have to be well over 90 years old. They’ve been with me through at least four home sites , and in the mid-70’s, Dad and I each took some from Grandma’s old homestead garden where they had been growing since the 1920s. They thrived for us, and though they say peonies don’t take well to transplanting, I think those plants considered themselves part of the family and figured on going where we go.
The glorious show of the mid-season peonies is (at this writing) displaying a mix of many-petaled, open-faced Orientals displaying their pollen-laded yellow centers, and one lovely pink and white beauty that looks like a shaggy chrysanthemum.
The late-bloomers are budding up nicely, with the ants already grooming the buds as they have done since time immemorial. These will be mostly single- to double-petaled blooms almost poppy-like in their fragile beauty. “Fragile,” of course, is only in the appearance when it comes to peonies. Their looks belie their hardiness, for peonies thrive in surprising places (like mine) enjoying acidic rocky/sandy soil and a minimum of fussing.
Large, well-established plants do need staking or a small wire fence to hold up their heavy heads which tend to fill with rainwater and lean ground-ward, but they need no fertilizers or other special attention. Their wild forebears, after all, grew on rocky, sparse-soiled Mediterranean hillsides as our immediate native wild peonies grow in often inhospitable mountain clearings. Most peonies are hardy in Zone 3 and many in Zone 2. Since our Zonal planting area is 3-5, they are perfect for North Idaho.
Though it generally takes an initial three years for a peony – or any perennial - to mature (or recover from transplanting) and bloom, it is a carefree plant. Sun lovers which nonetheless accept dappled shade, they prefer our acidic soil and do beautifully most anywhere in your landscape. Plant them among your evergreens, rhodies/azaleas, even in rocky sites. Start them in a big (wide) hole with composted organic mulch, but not too deeply! They're heavy feeders, so provide them with rich, peaty mulch each spring and after bloom, but use NO fertilizers. Remember, they don't take kindly to alkaline soil. Too, when planting, remember that many peonies grow to a width of about four feet across from original plantings of about 18 inches apart. Ferny types take up about three feet, so make sure to provide for expansion.
After bloom, their lovely green foliage lasts through summer and fall, and it's not necessary to cut it back until it dies, since the leaves provide food for the extensive root system.
Peonies are one of the most rewarding of all hardy perennials. They need to be happy where they're planted, because once set they shouldn't be moved, but if you have the right spot, sun or dappled shade, they will live "forever." Generally speaking, peonies traditionally don’t take well to transplanting, but sometimes it's necessary to move them and when you do, wait till late fall, then cut-back the plant and take it with a huge amount of root soil and plant tenderly in a place similar to the one in which it thrived. It works if you do it right – I can vouch for that!
But remember, division of large, well-established clumps should only take place not less than three full years after blooming and remember too, blooming sometimes doesn't begin until they've been in place for three years so that can be a six-year stretch. This applies, of course to most all large perennials.
A final word about the afore-mentioned ants: They are important to the well-being of the flowers by eating the sweet syrup on the buds, allowing them to open. To use buds or new-opened peonies for indoor bouquets, just dip the heads in a bucket of water and shake gently to remove the ants before taking them in the house.
Dear departed friend Dianna Mays – the former “flower queen” of Farmers Market and our local Master Gardeners Association’s very first president, once gave me a tip: After cutting peony stems for a bouquet, put the stem ends briefly in hot water before arranging in the vase of cold water. She said this makes the blooms last longer. I haven’t tried it, but it comes from the voice of experience.
Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com. or by phone at 208-265-4688 between the hours of 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
