Can I cut back the peonys' foliage now that it's dry and brown? It's kind of an eye sore and mine don't turn attractive colors like I've seen other people's do.
Peonies and cutting down
I always cut mine back once they aren't green any more. They seem to come back great every year.
I've cut back mine at different times. For a long time I always cut mine back in late October, they seemed to do great with that the next flowering year. Last year, I cut them down in about June and they didn't seem to flower as much this year. So, I will go back to my October "mowing" down the peony bushes.
I was always told that you could cut them back anytime after the first of August and it wouldn't affect their bloom the next year. Sometimes I remember and sometimes they just sit there until nice and brown.
I leave mine uncut to hold the snow near the plant for insulation. We get a lot of wind so those stems are useful. If it wasn't for the really cold temps we have here, (last year down to -20), I would probably cut them because they would look better.
I leave peonies intact to help hold the mulch in the beds as insulation against the strong winds that blow thru my yard each winter. The peonies never die.
My older ones are roots that I brought to my family home almost 50 years ago and moved to these gardens in 1991.
I did the same as most of the above - left them alone til spring. But after doing a lot of reading on-line, I am cutting them down this fall. Two reasons - boytritis (sp?) on the leaves (black spots) keeps it in the area all winter; and too much moisture causing crown rot. If I have none come up in the spring, I'll let you all know - the 'experts' were wrong and MIL was right! :)
A couple of bushes get almost totally black by fall so they really need to be cut back - if they aren't any better next fall, they are getting the burn treatment! No more sympathy for them!
Kooger,
My parents always mowed them off each August when my brothers got tired of mowing around them. No one fed them or watered them in the clay ground.
Unprotected from winter winds out in the country & they bloomed bigger & more beautiful each year!
Do what works for you.
When you read and hear about plants over 100 years old, you know they have got to be tough! How old do you estimate some of your family plants are, Wanda?
Well, my peonies are probably the oldest. My next door neighbor said he was a young man of 25 years old when he planted them in a nearby Ellis Park for the city in 1902. I got hunks of them when they had to move the bed and put in a new swimming pool at the park when I was 7 years old. I split those original peonies 14 years ago to bury them here in my yard. 102 years old?
I have iris from my fraternal grandmothers flowerbeds that she brought to Mom & Dad's house in the 1970s. She'd grown them since the 1940s.
My yellow early blooming spring daylilies were at my parent's house when we moved in 1957.
2 colors of my liliacs came down the hill to our house with me when I was 9 or 10 years old in my wagon. They were widening the road & the neighbors gave me 2 big hunks. I'm glad it was downhill--I pulled them over 7 blocks.
One lilac bush is really old. I rescued it when helping clear land to build a house in the 1970s. it was on growing on an overgrown homestead that had been torn down in the early 1900s. I planted it at Mom & Dad's house (same house for 45 years) and my bush is a piece of the same old fashioned lilac.
Lots of interesting history there. It looks like you have been a plant rescuer most of your life.
They started me young. Only 2 TV stations, no computer or videos. Gotta do something with your time as a kid... :)
That's neat, Wanda. It'd be really cool to walk around and say this one is from... and this one is from... when we saw Mom's farm in Holland she told us some stories about it. It's now owned by a first cousin so that's kind of a warm fuzzy for me - it's still in the family. :) ...we finally got a TV when I was in Gr. 10 so I sure understand the doing other stuff! I think my dad figured we were his automatic milkers, calf feeders and manure scoopers... lol
I've cut mine to half the height after blooming......plants have come back with more stems and blooms every year. After winter I cut them right back.
Thats neet Wanda. I have read that peonies and daffodils are the two plants that can live beyond centuries. My mom has some from my grandmother, (which I never knew, but was named after) and I want to get starts off them to carry them on. It would just be special to stand and look at a peony, knowing my grandmother started them.
that's a good idea, Pam. Neatens them up a bit. and Kathy - definitely get that start going!!! What a treasure to have!
Kathy, do it! I just look at mine & remember so many things about growing up with my family. I think the one thing that broken marriages & children without fathers lack is the sense of tradition and continuity that connects us all. It's hard to be selfish or destructive when you contemplate the chain of centuries that binds us all.