2012 Cut Back Fall Foliage on Peonies

I can't believe it's December already, the last month of 2012. On Friday, the last day of November, I got a start on cutting back some of my peonies. That is the earliest I've started cutting them back in a few years. In the last couple of years, I've just been so busy that I haven't gotten around to cutting them back until after the new year. I actually cut back a few of them that still had some color on the foliage. Most of them were already brown, however. Here are the before and after pictures from cleaning up and cutting back my Saunderss peony garden. I also took the time to record the stem counts for any peonies I hadn't yet recorded the data on, and I also made sure to bag up all of the old peony foliage to try to prevent the spread of disease. Everything looks so much nicer now. Having a nice clean peony bed makes me long for spring when their soft pink tendrils will once again emerge from the soil!
Saunders Peony Garden with Dead Foliage


Saunders Peony Garden Cleaned Up