Peony season is almost over (sigh), but if you want the fluffy blooms to flower again next year, you’ll need to know what to do with peonies after flowering.
Most peony varieties will be putting out their last flowers of the year right now, and many already have. If you’ve learned how to grow peonies before, you’ll know that the plants are perennial, so they flower year after year – but how well they bloom again depends on the care you give them after their flowering period ends.
Luckily, aftercare is pretty simple. I spoke to the experts, and they told me that these are the two things you should do with peonies after flowering to conserve the plants’ strength for next year.
What you’ll need
RocketGro
Peat-Free Magic Mulch 50L
This organic mulch feeds the soil, conserves moisture and suppresses weed growth.
Kimura
Kimura® 8″ Pro Pruning Scissors
A solid pair of garden snips to make deadheading a breeze.
Bone meal is a brilliant fertiliser for peonies after they’ve finished flowering.
1. Deadhead correctly
Deadheading peonies is a fine art because you can’t remove too much of the plant – but once you know where to make the cuts, it’s dead easy.
‘Once your peony has finished flowering, nip the faded blooms off at the first leaf node below the flower to leave the foliage to feed the crown for next year’s flowers,’ says The Peony Farmer, Elonor Tivey.
I use a pair of garden snips like these Niwaki Garden Snips from Amazon (they’re so satisfying to use!) to deadhead my plants. It’s crucial that you leave the foliage alone, because that’s what powers next year’s blooms.
‘Leaving those glossy green leaves intact is the trick to having gorgeous blooms next year, so be careful when trimming back the foliage and remove only the diseased or damaged leaves for now,’ advises flower expert Shelley Davis from Flying Flowers.
‘When the foliage naturally turns yellow, that signals the plant is winding down for the season. After this point, stems can be cut back to just above ground level to help keep the plant healthy over winter.’
2. Feed the plants (and the soil!)
For a bonus boost, it’s also worth feeding your peonies after they’ve finished flowering.
‘Flowering takes a lot out of plants, so a little extra care after blooming goes a long way,’ says Shelley. ‘A balanced feed and some extra water during dry spells will help peonies replenish their reserves.’
Balanced is the buzzword here, and you’ll want to avoid fertilisers with a high ratio of nitrogen. This Levington Bone Meal Multi-Purpose Plant Food from Argos is slow-release and high in phosphorus, which is exactly what peonies need at this time of the year.
Shelley also recommends mulching around the base of the plant with compost to feed the roots and retain soil moisture in hot weather. RocketGro Peat-Free Magic Mulch, which you can order from B&Q with next-day delivery, is a gardener’s favourite (it suppresses weeds, too!).
Caring for peonies after flowering is simple: just deadhead them, leave the foliage alone and feed them!
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