Peony help please

Cyril

Hello.

I was given a Peony cutting which is doing really well and has produced some beautiful blooms however,

the flower heads are so big the stems holding them aren't strong enough to keep them upright and they fall over and break off. I bought a support thing but its not helping its crushing the leaves etc and doesn't look very good.

Any ideas. Does the Peony sort itself out as it gets bigger.

officeguru

Hi Cyril

Every spring I hammer in 4 pretty strong stakes around my peonies... Canes, for example, are not strong enough... Each stake is about 3/4" square and about hip height once it has been sunk in the soil.... I then get some cheap, green plastic washing line and use this to tie around the stakes... I find that the nylon washing line doesn't cut into the stems... I do this before the buds are formed as, once the plant flowers the heads are too heavy for the plant to hold upright... and once they have flopped down, they never tie up very well...

If you find that 4 stakes are not enough, I fill up the gaps with branches that I have pruned off shrubs at the time... I know this doesn't help for this year, but you will be better prepared for next year... Also I always cut off the flowers when they are finished (on a young plant) so that the plant is not wasting energy to create the seed ... Some of mine are over 50 years old, so they are already large plants...

I hope this helps

Cheers

Cyril

Thankyou very much OG.

Such a shame though that beautiful plants have evolved not to be strong enough to carry their own blooms.

Farway

Cyril wrote: »

Such a shame though that beautiful plants have evolved not to be strong enough to carry their own blooms.

Trouble is they have not "evolved" they have been bred, like bulldogs with flat faces unable to breathe properly & wonky hips, or roses without scent and tomatoes without taste that are bright red, round & 8 to the pound [weight] for supermarket shelves

Don't get me started :mad: