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Pairing and Caring for Your Peonies

Valerie Albarda

By Valerie Albarda
Updated July 24, 2020

With these tips, your garden can have rich color in spring and a steady and easy garden presence the rest of the growing season.

Skill

Beginner

Time

Few Hours

A pink peony bloom in a garden.

Pairing Peonies

Pink peonies leaning over a rock and mixed among other pink and purple flowers.

Coordinate Them: Complement your peonies with an ensemble of flowers in the same color palette. This parade of pastels includes peonies, foxglove, campion (Silene spp.), spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.) and veronica.

Dark pink peonies, pale pink rhododendron and crimson queen Japanese maple next to a brick walkway.

Group Them: Peonies are adaptable and can take the partly shady conditions that appeal to the pale pink rhododendron and Crimson Queen Japanese maple seen here. The Japanese maple’s burgundy foliage ensures the bed has visual interest after blooms fade.

Dark pink peonies and bright yellow coreopsis blooming in front of a fountain.

Contrast Them: Add contrast with flowers. These bright yellow coreopsis blooms create an energetic duo with the dark-pink peony blooms, and coreopsis’ long season of bloom keeps the show going well into summer.

Red peonies in bloom along a white picket fence in the back yard of a white house.

Stage Them: Put the spotlight on peonies by positioning them in front of an attractive fence or wall. This white picket fence helps direct attention to the flowers. Later in the season, the peonies will make a nice, green, well-behaved hedge against the fence.

White peonies, purple larkspur and pink climbing roses planted in front of a white picket fence.

Augment Them: This trio really hits some high notes in spring, thanks to the backing of pink climbing roses and purple larkspur (Consolida spp.) behind the white peonies.

Pink peonies surrounded by lady's mantle, veronica, purple coneflower and blue spruce.

Strengthen Them: Peonies are wonderful in spring bloom, but you can strengthen their appeal by surrounding them with plants that excel in other seasons, like lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), veronica, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and blue spruce.

Dark pink peonies blooming among catmint and lamb's ears.

Mask Them: Another reason to give peonies some company is to mask any supports that are used. The catmint (Nepeta x faassenii) and lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) here make lovely companions that will carry into summer.

Cut blossoms of dark pink, light pink and white peonies displayed in a glass jar.

Enjoy Them: With large blooms in a range of bright colors, peonies make great cut flowers that can hold their own in a vase. Ants are attracted to the sticky sap and can make their way inside the blooms so check for ants before taking them inside.

Caring for Peonies

A close-up of a peony stem showing the buds near the base of the plant.

Plant Them: Locate peonies in a sunny, well-drained spot. Plant roots so the eyes, or buds near the plant’s base, are only 1 to 2 inches below ground.

A woman placing a plant support over peonies that have been cut back.

Support Them: When in bloom, peonies can become top-heavy. Keep plants upright by providing a support for stems to grow through in spring.

Diseased peony leaves showing brown spots.

Protect Them: To prevent leaf diseases, water at the base of plants. Dispose of foliage in fall, then mulch the area. Consider a fungicide, too.

An ant on a peony bud.

Display Them: Peonies make a cheerful, fragrant cut flower. Before bringing peonies inside, don’t forget to check for ants!

A person using hand pruners to cut back a peony plant.

Prune Them: Don’t cut peonies down before fall. Doing so will prevent them from storing the energy reserves needed for long-term health.

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