Grandmother's Peonies

 

Hello, my name is Tammy.

This blog is designed to follow my day-to-day "therapy" sessions in my garden.

I will blog about my flowers, trees, vegetables during this growing season.

I hope you enjoy my pictures and my commentaries.

If you have any advise, please feel free to join in "group therapy". 

 

 

 

Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Paeoniaceae
Genus:	Paeonia

These are my grandmother's Peonies and I now have them in my yard. They were her favorite flowers. I love this time of year when they bud out and EXPLODE in gorgeous pink beauty and soft, sweet frangrance. There are several things to consider if you wish to have a plant in your garden:

• You can plant Peonies in all light settings. However, they perform best a spot that is slightly shaded (with some direct sun) and where the ground stays moist.
• They come up through the ground very quickly after the last frost of early spring.
• Once they break through the ground, you need to create a support system for each stem as the blooms are VERY heavy and will eventually break the stem if not supported. I use a cage structure that is a section of wire decorative edging that boxes it in.
• If you want to cut the blooms for a fresh flower arrangment, you will need to rinse them thoroughly because little insects love to live in between the petals. They would love to come  out and join you for dinner one evening.
• The blossoms only last a week or so, SO, enjoy them while they last.
• After the blooms are spent, just snip the entire stem back to the ground and enjoy the dark green foliage all summer until the first frost of the fall. The leaves can be used as filler in flower arrangements using the other flowers that bloom over the spring and summer.
• After the first freeze, the greenery will look horrible, so, just cut everything back and cover with mulch to protect the plant over the winter.

Other than these considerations, this plant is a must have in everyone's garden. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being everyday maintenance), the Peony is an easy 2.5.