Grow Gorgeous Peonies
Can such beautiful flowers also be easy to grow? The answer is a definite yes! Peonies are not only easy-care, but they make great cut flowers, are often fragrant and can live for generations. Even though some gardeners grow huge, colorful peonies with no effort, sometimes you run into challenges. So I checked in with four expert peony growers with decades of experience and loads of advice to share with you.
CHOOSE YOUR PEONY Let’s start with a few shopping tips. You can buy a herbaceous peony two ways: Already growing in pots or bare root. It’s true that buying potted plants is more convenient, but if you really want to take advantage of the huge range of colors, flowers shapes, bloom times and plant sizes, such as ‘Coral Charm’ and ‘Candy Heart’ at right, ordering bare-root peonies from a mail-order nursery is the way to go. It will take some time for your plant to reach full size—usually 3 years—but getting just the right plant for your garden might be worth the wait.
LOOK FOR EYES When your bare-root peony arrives it should be a firm, tuberous root with three to five eyes—those little pink buds in the photo at left are what you’re looking for.
If you don’t see any eyes or find that the roots are mushy
