2012 How to Cut Back an Herbaceous Peony

Herbaceous peonies should be cut back each year to create a pleasing aesthetic in your peony gardens, maintain good air circulation, and prevent the spread of disease. Diseased, dying, and dead peony foliage isn't very nice to look, and cutting back your peonies will definitely present a cleaner and neater appearance in your peony beds. Old foliage from the previous year is going to prevent air circulation around the base of the plant which would create a moist environment ripe for the growth of foliar disease. Also any diseased foliage left in the peony bed gives the disease a chance to infect the newly emerging foliage in spring.
Herbaceous Peony in Fall


Cut Back Herbaceous Peony at Base of Stem

Using sharp clippers cut each of the peony stems back at the very base of the stem, even with the ground. Take care to avoid clipping any pink buds (peony eyes) that may be showing. These are the beginnings of the peony's growth cycle for the coming year. These pink buds will develop into next year's shoots. So be careful to stay away from those buds since they will become next year's foliage and possibly blooms as well!

Hollow Stem of Cut Peony and Pink Bud (Peony Eye)


Remove the Cut Peony Foliage

After cutting back all of the peony stems, make sure to throw all of the stems and foliage away. Do not compost the cut back peony stems and foliage. It is best to completely remove all of the cut peony foliage from the garden. I usually keep a plastic bag with me in the garden while I am cutting back the foliage, and I will put the cut foliage in the back as I go. Also examine the ground after removing the cut foliage to see if there are any peony leaves that were left behind. Take care to remove any loose peony leaves that you find.

Short Stem of Cut Peony

Some people will leave a short 2-3 stem on all of their peony shoots when cleaning up in the fall as shown on one stem in the picture above. I think some people like to keep the short stems to help them remember where their peonies are planted. However here in my growing zone, I can almost always see the pink buds (peony eyes) showing through fall and winter. I also make sure to keep my plants labeled and mapped, so I know their location and variety. I always cut my peonies back even with the ground. I figure if you are cutting back the plant to remove the green plant parts to prevent disease, the more you cut back, the less surface area for the disease to use as a host.

Herbaceous Peony Completely Cut Back

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

2012 Ashes on Peonies for Acidic Soil

Today I was excited to empty the ash bucket from my wood burning fireplace. I know that means I get to adjust the pH of the soil I grow my peonies in, naturally! There were a couple of spots in full sun that were starting to grow moss. Moss usually grows in shady, acidic soils. This spot is not shady. So I know I need to make some adjustments to make my acidic soil a bit more alkaline. The ashes from my fireplace are just the thing to do it! The soils in the southeastern United States are generally more acidic, but you can get your soil tested if you're not sure of the level. If you want to learn more, there's an article on Natural Fertilizer Materials from our local NC State University. If you're lucky enough to have a wood burning fireplace or even an outdoor firepit, be sure to save your wood ashes for your peonies!
Moss Growing in Peony Bed


Bucket with Wood Ashes for Peony Bed


Wood Ash on Peony Bed

2012 Colorful Fall Peony Foliage

I took these fall peony pictures 2 weeks ago today. As you can see there is a great range of color - red tipped green, yellow, orange, red, even black! Some varieties definitely display more fall colors than others - the more peony varieties, the better the display. Not only is there a range of color depending on the variety, but at times, a variety of color on the same plant! There are many reasons to plant peonies - their interesting new growth in late winter, their beautiful blossoms in spring, their lush green foliage in summer, and an array of colorful foliage during the fall season when they're slowing storing their energy reserves for the next year. So if you needed another reason to plant peonies, here's one more! :)

Peony 'Belleville'	Peony 'Feather Top'
Peony 'Feather Top'	Peony 'Kansas'
Peony 'Seashell'	Peony 'Seashell'

2012 Peony Mulch with Paper Bag Weed Barrier

With a half day off from work yesterday, I was able to get in a little bit of work in my yard. It's always tough in the fall when the time changes. The days are already getting shorter and the hour you lose just makes it that much darker when you finally do get home. I've been needing to mulch around the new peonies in my Saunders peony bed where I added on to it this fall. There is quite a bit of open space around some of them, and a few fall weeds had already begun to sprout. A great chemical free way to prevent weeds is with a layer of mulch, but what to do when the weeds are already sprouting? A good way is to lay down a barrier underneath the mulch. I am definitely not in favor of the plastic weed barriers. They never biodegrade. The weeds grown through them eventually, anyway, and you are left with a really big mess! What I like to do, that I've done in the past, is lay down a layer of brown paper as a weed barrier underneath the mulch. It protects the bed from weeds for a few seasons, and by the time is it no good, it has already started to biodegrade - so no mess! Also you can just keep adding layers of paper and mulch if you like. Here's a step by step pictorial to get you started.
Materials Needed: Paper Bags, Scissors, and Mulch


Peony Bed Addition with Weeds Sprouting


Peony Bed with Paper Bag Weed Barrier


Peony Bed with Mulch Piled on Paper Weed Bag Barrier


Peony Bed with Fresh Mulch Over a Paper Bag Weed Barrier