It never fails, this is my most asked question this time of year, and for good reason! If you ordered peonies, you want to get them in the ground!

Here are some of the factors that determine when we begin harvesting:

• Rainfall: We want roots to be nicely hydrated with well-developed eyes. A couple good soaking rains before we harvest is critical. Plus it makes digging them up a lot easier!

Whether it’s a potted peony planted in spring or a bare root planted in fall, peonies follow a very familiar pattern in their first few years.

The industry standard for a peony root is that it has three to five “eyes” or buds on it. All the peonies we sell meet or beat this industry standard.

Peonies are known for being extra hardy, long-lived and easy-to-grow. But there are some varieties that have proven themselves beyond the masses to be great choices for beginning gardeners and those just looking for proven varieties that are sure to shine in the spring garden.

Read below for the list!

There are a few varieties of striped, or variegated, peonies in our fields… and they are all super popular when they are in bloom.

As visitors wander the fields, most are drawn to these unique peony flowers that offer a little something extra. Candy Stripe, Independence Day, Circus Circus, and Summer Carnival are those that you’ll see growing here if and when you visit our farm.

Fall is the absolute best time to plant peonies. That’s why you often see them for sale as bare roots in the fall. We, of course, sell them in this way!

There’s one main reason why fall is the best time and it all has to do with the magic of roots.

Most peonies are sold as either potted plants or bare roots. There are two reasons why.

The first is that peonies grown from seed are not true to their parent, meaning they don’t end up being the same flower as the plant they came from.

And two, it takes a little more time and a lot more effort for a peony planted from seed to produce a bloom.

DEADHEADING PEONIES IS GENERALLY A GOOD IDEA

After your peonies are done blooming there are a few reasons to cut those old flower heads off. But there’s also one big reason you might want to leave them on!

It is a good idea to cut back and clean up peony debris in the fall.

Doing so helps to prevent and spread any fungal diseases that may have settled in over the spring and summer. But now is not quite the time. We aren’t quite there yet.

It’s true, life for us slows down quite a bit now that the peony bloom season is over. In fact, I actually took a nap on Sunday afternoon after we closed. Peony season is hard work!

But even though the flowers are done blooming and our farm shop is only open Saturdays there’s still quite a bit to do on the farm.

Here’s a few tasks that continue through the summer and into fall.

The questions about powdery mildew have started to pour in so this email is a timely reminder for what to do about it.

WHAT IS POWDERY MILDEW?

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects many plants, including peonies. It appears as a white or gray powdery coating on the leaves, stems, and flowers of plants. The fungus typically thrives in warm, humid environments and can spread quickly in crowded or poorly ventilated areas.

Understanding Peony Bud Blast and Solutions

Peony bud blast, where flower buds fail to open, often results from a combination of environmental factors and cultural care practices. Here's a detailed exploration of the causes and solutions for this common issue:

Tips for picking peonies

Whether you’re here or at home, here’s our tips for the best peony picking techniques.

• Choose stems that have flowers almost ready to bloom but not quite. We want to pick them in the “marshmallow stage” when the flowers have not yet opened but they are squishy soft like a marshmallow. A bud that’s too hard will struggle to open in a vase. A fully bloomed flower won’t last as long for you after it’s cut. Remove any leaves that sit below the water line.

When visitors stroll through the tables of potted peonies we have for sale there is a common question… What do the bloom week ratings mean?

So you bought a new peony. And even better it grew and formed a bud! It’s so exciting to see the first flowers on your new peony. But if you can possibly stand it, it can be a good idea to snip off that bud before it blooms.

Why would I suggest such a horrible thing?

First, peonies don’t love being moved around. It’s a lot of stress on the plant.

While they are getting settled into their new home, it’s best for them to focus on root development. It takes a lot of energy to produce a flower and that energy is coming from the roots that were already stressed from moving.

Removing the flower bud on a newly planted peony allows the plant to conserve that energy and devote it to forming healthy roots. Healthy roots are a healthy plant.

In the long run, your peony will grow faster and give you more flowers sooner if you give it the first year with no blooms.

But it is a hard thing to do. If there is more than one flower bud on your peony plant you may want to leave just one to open and remove the rest.

Or at the very least, if you do choose to let your peony bloom in its first year, be sure to snip the remains of the bud off after it’s done blooming so the plant doesn’t have to use even more energy making seeds.

Many peony plants don’t even produce a flower bud in the season, or even the first couple seasons. That’s just the plant building up energy reserves in the root system until the plant can support the big and beautiful flowers.

We would love or you to visit the farm this season and see the peonies in bloom!

We get a lot of questions about the best time to come and how to go about coming here. Here are the most frequently asked questions we get.

If there’s one topic that comes up in peony conversations the most, it’s ants. Grandma may have told you the buds need ants to open. Or maybe that you shouldn’t plant peonies next to the house or ants will come in! (Both are not true.)

You may have childhood memories (nightmares) of ants on peonies. Or perhaps you’re just wondering how to get those ants off the flowers before you bring them indoors. We cover all that today! Read on.

First off, what is a side bud?

Some peonies produce one flower per stem. Other varieties have multiple buds on one stem. For these, one of those buds is the main one, the others are found lower down on the stem, typically smaller and bloom later.

Removing those secondary side buds will allow the plant to devote all its energy to the primary bud. This makes that resulting flower bigger, bolder and better than it would have been if the side buds had been left on.

As an experiment, you can try removing side buds from some of the stems and leave them on for others, even on the same plant. Compare the flowers and be sure to share your results!

In order for the plant to divert energy in time, you should remove the side buds as early as possible, preferably when they are the size of peas.

It’s your choice, more blooms or one big bloom!

The American Peony Society is the foremost expert on peonies in the world. So many great minds have contributed to the collective knowledge of this agency.

We are a proud APS commercial member and preferred vendor.

For more than 100 years, the APS has awarded both people and peonies that go above and beyond.

The Gold Medal

The “Gold Medal” is awarded annually for peonies exhibiting outstanding floral qualities and in recent years has also been designated  “Peony of the Year.”  These peonies are excellent for gardeners wishing to have plants that produce outstanding flowers for use as cut flowers, arranging or simple visual enjoyment.

- American Peony Society

Long story short, you’ll wrap your stems in plastic and lay them in the fridge until you fancy a bit of beauty.

This is such a great idea when you know you’ll have company in mid-summer or perhaps a wedding. Or maybe you’re just celebrating a summer day.

No matter the reason, you can enjoy a vase of peonies well after spring has passed. Here’s how.