The peony plants look happy, but no sign of blossoms. Andy and Kaitlin talked about it during our weekly phone call last night, and they wondered if the soil ph was wrong for them. Maybe they needed more acidic soil? I looked at ph meters on Amazon, but mostly they received poor reviews, they weren’t accurate. So scratch that idea.
Then Andy had a great idea. The daffodils are doing fine, what ph did they like? He looked it up, and they like the same range as peonies, so that clearly wasn’t the problem. Andy thought maybe they needed fertilizing, so he was going to try that.
Then later, on a whim, I tried to find out when peonies might bloom at our altitude. Our apples are always a lot later than predicted, so what about peonies? I didn’t find the answer to that, but I found something better: 9 Reasons Peonies Don’t Bloom. It’s not for lack of fertilizer, in fact, the article says,
It almost never happens that a peony is in soil so poor in minerals that it fails to bloom, but it will fail to bloom if it gets too much fertilizer, especially if the fertilizer is rich in nitrogen (the first of the three figures seen on the fertilizer label). The culprit is usually lawn fertilizer applied too generously right next to the peony.
Solution:
Peonies are slow-growing plants, not fertilizer-guzzling weeds. With most fertilizers, apply at no more than half the recommended rate. That’s usually quite sufficient, especially if the first digit is greater than 10, as 20-5-10.
So scratch the fertilizer. What do we do instead?
Peonies are very slow-growing. A newly planted peony plant bought in a typical nursery may well take a year before it first flowers and 3 to 5 years before it’s really starting to bloom heavily. Less mature starter plants, like those inexpensive Chinese imports—or divisions you made yourself with only one or two “eyes” (buds)—can take even longer before they first bloom: 2 to 3 years! And it’s no wonder so few gardeners grow peonies from seed. You probably won’t see the first bloom for at least 3 to 5 years and it will then take them 7 to 8 years before they’re really blooming abundantly.
Solution:
Be patient! Your plant will bloom … eventually!
So it may be we bought the plants from the wrong place. Andy can’t remember where he bought them, but he got the tulips from the same place, and they didn’t do well either. He had already ordered more tulips and peonies from Breck’s, which usually has high-quality bulbs. Andy plans to plant them this fall and we’ll see next year if that makes a difference. Breck’s says,
Where do peonies grow best?
Remarkably easy to care for, peonies are grown from tubers planted 2 inches deep and 3 to 4 feet apart in well-drained soil. They thrive in zones 3 through 8 in full to part sun, and they grow up to 3 feet tall with magnificent 5- to 7-inch blooms. These stunning yet hardy plants don’t mind chilly winters, rarely need fertilizer and are resistant to deer and disease. They occasionally require staking, because the big, heavy flowers sometimes weigh down their stems. Although dividing is not necessary, it is possible to divide peonies plants and share them. Because these hardy perennials can live as long as 100 years, peony plants may be passed down through several generations.
So fingers crossed for next year.
That was a real education! Who would have guessed?
June 29, 20202
yes! very interesting. thank you for sharing it.
we don’t see all that many peonies here. they were abundant in NY state.
and beautiful. I thought it might be because of our extreme heat that they didn’t do so well here. but your research didn’t even mention the heat.
anyway… hope yours survive and thrive. xo
Yes, as I understand it they don’t like extreme heat. (Smart plants!)
We had a whole garden plot of peonies in our other house we lived in here in OP back in the late 80s. They were a finicky bunch of plants. Our neighbor told us that they really only bloom well every other year. But when they do bloom, they sure are pretty.
I didn’t know that about every other year. And that they are supposed to be finicky. We’ll have to see how the Breck plants do. It’s fun to try things and see what happens.
I did not know anything about peonies, I mean literally nothing. Except they grow in the ground. So now, we will be watching next year with interest.
I didn’t know much about them either. Andy calls them the “ant plants” because for some reason ants like them. As I recall, Kaitlin had them on the tables at their wedding. I just like watching things grow.
I think it took 3 years for my peonies to bloom and I didn’t give them any special care.
Thanks, it’s that 3 years that is relevant for us.
Thanks for sharing this knowledge with us, so I learned too. I had no idea it takes them so long to grow. Or that there are any plants that don’t really like fertilizer. I guess you need to buy them already blooming!
Or be patient. Breck doesn’t say it will take that long, but we will see and won’t be surprised now.
Well good on Brecks and any other place for revealing information that probably couldn’t fit on a plant tag/label. And “deer” resistant that’s a 4 out 4
And I’ve just remembered that most of the NZ export peony flower market is based in the deep south – which is both dry and cold. I remember that useless fact from some one I used to know.
I love “useless” information like that. We don’t have trouble with deer because of our chain link fence. We do have smaller critters that can cause a lot of trouble.
I am a huge fan of Internet research and you hit the jackpot on this one. They gave you everything you needed to know and now we needed to know it and the answer was right there waiting for you to look for it. I can’t tell you how many things I’ve figured out by searching what Google. All it took was one sentence from an urgent care doctor and with the help of Google search I figured out what was wrong and did away with my pain. Hope it blooms sometime soon
Yes, I felt I hit the jackpot when I found that article. Another time was two years ago when a surgeon wanted to put a stent in Andy’s carotid artery because a CT scan (for something else) showed a dissection. It was easy enough to find that it would be dangerous, but after a lot of searching I found a research article that proved watchful waiting made a lot more sense. Sometimes the dissection heals itself. For reassurance I also contacted the Mayo Clinic with Andy’s information and they said they had nothing to add, keep doing what we were doing. Hurray for the internet and second opinions!
Well that was interesting. No wonder I can grow peonies. I love their scent but the blooms never last very long. Mine were here and gone this year before I ever got a chance to get any pictures.
That is one complaint about them… the flowers don’t last very long. It will be fun to see if we ever get any.
Patience is a virtue, as they say, and it sounds like your patience will be rewarded with beautiful peony blooms sometime in the future, Jean… just not right now. Thank you for the peony lesson. How interesting! Love, Andrea xoxo
I also thought the article was great. It’s fun to learn things like that. 🙂