12 things every peony lover must know

The true royalty of garden plants, the distinctive flowers of peonies can take your breath away. But growing peonies requires more than just a love of bright colors and sweetness. From planting peonies to peony care, there is a lot about these flowers you should know before peony season.

Peonies make the best bouquets

Besides their fresh, fragrant scent, peony flowers can open to more than 20 cm wide, as long as you make sure to cut the buds in the early morning, and then they will bloom.

Especially for wedding bouquets

Peonies are considered a symbol of good luck and a happy marriage. Fill your bouquet and arrangements with them.

Peonies were originally grown for medicinal use

These flowers come from China and Europe, where they were used to treat headaches, asthma and labor pain.

Peony petals are edible

In China, these petals are cooked and sugared as a treat at tea time, in summer salads, or as a garnish for punch and lemonade.

You can grow peonies in the South

Peonies do thrive in regions with long, cold winters, but that does not mean they are only flowers for the North. Although peonies perform best in the North, some peonies can tolerate mild winters.

There is one type of peony particularly suited to southern climates

There are several types of peonies, and only one is best suited to southern climates. Every winter, herbaceous peonies die back to the ground, and in spring they grow brand-new stems. Herbaceous varieties need more than 400 hours of near-freezing temperatures, which is hard to get in places with mild winters. Tree peonies, on the other hand, as you can tell from their sturdy trunks, need only 100 to 300 hours of cold each year, which makes them better suited to the Deep South.

Perfect peonies need perfect planting

Herbaceous peonies need to be planted in fall, while tree peonies can be planted in fall or spring.

Peonies attract ants

But this is more of a blessing than a curse, because ants play an important role in helping peonies bloom. Ants are attracted to the nectar in peony buds; when they crawl inside the buds, they help them open. In addition, ants keep other insects away from them.

Peonies outlive people

Under ideal conditions, peony plants can live to be over 100 years old.

Growing peonies takes patience

Just as Rome was not built in a day, these beautiful flowers take several years to bloom. Herbaceous peonies usually do not bloom in the first year after planting, while tree peonies take 2 to 3 years to bloom.

When cutting peony flowers, cut sparingly

It is easy to get carried away by these gorgeous flowers, but when you prune them, make sure you leave at least three buds on each cut stem. Do not remove more than half of the flowers from any one clump, because this can seriously damage its food reserves.

Peonies bloom in every color except blue :)