Bold and brash blooms are a beautiful feature of Peonies but being successful is not a real big secret.
Peonies are easy to grow, herbaceous perennials that should be long lived if you follow these five simple tips.

Five Secrets of Success With Peonies

• 1. Peonies need deep, fertile, moisture retentive soil and summer rain or watering.
• 2. Do not bury the crown too deeply when planting or in later years with over-enthusiastic mulching. 2 inches below the soils surface is adequate
• 3. Cut down foliage to ground level in Autumn. Top dress with a handful of bone meal or growmore and then again in spring. An occasional top dressing of lime can be beneficial if the soil is prone to acidity.
• 4. Deadhead plants after flowering to put energy into new growth. Be patient if new plants do not flower in the first year, so long as they are not planted too deep your peonies will eventually flower.
• 5. Stake with a ring of metal hoops to support the heavy blooms. They get particularly heavy when wet.

Tree Peonies like the one pictured above do not need to be cut down. I avoid pruning Tree Peonies and you can get more tips here.

Aphids and other pests are deterred by toxic chemicals in Peony leaves.

Plant in October or during frost free periods.

Aim to grow Peonia lactifolia whose flowers are longer lasting than Peony officinalis the cottage garden variety of Peony.

See more Peony photographs.