We have some peonies around the place – my very favorite flower. If you missed my post on exactly how crazy I am over peonies, check it out. Today’s post is all about dividing peonies. When we moved here I was very happy to see that there were already some peonies planted. I’ve intended to divide the ones here in order to move some closer to the house almost every year since we moved here six years ago. Knowing that fall is the best time to transplant them, each fall I think about doing it. This week I finally did it.
Their current location is quite a ways from the house. This means they are fair game for any of the many deer that tromp through here every day. I cannot keep an eye on that, nor can I really see and revel in their beauty easily. They are sandwiched in between these two sculptures that are posted approximately 200 feet from the house. They remind me of some type of prehistoric animal, the sculptures that is, not the peonies. You might see that their foliage is dying off for the year, the peonies that is, not the sculptures.
While some plants need dividing every so many years in order to thrive, peonies are not really one of those. They may take a very long time to become what we might consider “overgrown”. In fact, they don’t necessarily like to be moved. I’ve had success with transplanting them in the past and I will show you how I dug up and divided some of mine for relocating, and if you want some additional, really great information with a lot of details on peonies in general and dividing them, take a look at this article from HGTV.
First I chose a new location. This spot right in front of the house gets decent sun. Peonies need at least 5 hours of sun to thrive, along with rich, well-draining soil. I am envisioning my beloved plants in bloom and being able to see them right from the front porch and while sitting on my bench along the walkway over to the left. The area where I am placing the splits is very overgrown with ivy and other foliage (read: it’s a bit weedy) . I had to remove some of that prior to digging the hole, and will have be sure to keep that foliage at bay as my new plants develop because good circulation around the peony plants is essential.
Next I prepared the site so that it will be ready to accept the divisions. I dug a wide-enough hole and filled with some soil that I liberated from one of the now-empty veggie beds. I was planning to relocate only 1 or 2 splits, so the hole did not need to be very wide. The more important thing to consider when moving peonies is not to plant them too deep. More on that later.
Then I gave the hole a very thorough watering. I do this anytime I plant anything. I never knew to do this until one of our beloved neighbors at our previous house, a sweet elderly woman from Macedonia, taught me to do this when she saw me planting some hostas “the wrong way”. She very kindly taught me to always water the hole first. She is a gardener extraordinaire and I will remember this lesson for as long as I am able to put some plants into the earth.
While the water was settling into the hole, I went back over to where the existing peonies are and cut the dying foliage back to about 5-6″ above the soil level. It’s kind of hard to see from this photo but the circles indicate the cut ends.
The next step was to dig up the ones I wanted to pull out for transplanting. Using my hand spade, I dug into the soil around each stem, cutting down deep into the roots until the plant could be readily lifted out of the ground. Each split should have some buds (eyes) on it. See the below photo. Generally speaking, the more buds the piece has on it, the better it will do as a transplant. However, one bud should suffice, with the understanding that the new plant may not be as robust (at first). Here is what I dug up with the bud encircled:
The last step is to plant the split into the new location. I placed the splits into the hole that I had previously filled with some soil, and watered it thoroughly. Yes, more water. Next I arranged the soil so that the buds were not deeper than 2 inches. I did end up grabbing some more soil to make sure that the hole was properly filled, always keeping my transplants at the proper depth. The number one reason peonies fail to bloom is that they are planted too deep, so be sure to keep that in mind.
I finished by watering the new planting thoroughly. Yes, even more water. This weekend I am planning to mulch some of my planting beds, those in which I’ve recently planted new perennials. I will add a bit of mulch to the new peony transplant site, but not too much. I just want to keep the surrounding soil covered over the winter. If all goes well, they will survive the winter and pop up out of the ground in the spring. It may be a few years before I see any blooms, but it will be well worth the wait.
That about wraps it up for my peony divisions. Hope you found this helpful. Have a great weekend!
4 Comments
I hope your peonies do well in the new closer location. Wild sculpture there at the old location. Your information on the growing needs of peonies got me thinking. Our peonies do well in the space between our house and the neighbor’s house even though the sunlight requirement is a bit on the short side of things. Daylilies sharing that spot tend to fade a bit not showing as much bloom and growth. Just something for me to consider. Thanks !
Hi John! Yes, I hope they do well in the new spot too. I am a bit conflicted regarding the sun needs of peonies myself. I have grown them successfully at other houses I’ve lived in where they did get quite a bit of shade. When preparing for this post, I looked up what the official recommendation is because I wanted to give the “right” info to anyone reading. Most of what I read said minimum of 5 hours, or between 4 and 6 hours. Maybe other factors play a large part too, such as a plant might do well with less sun if it has other good things, like good soil?? Sometimes I am convinced that there is a fair bit of magic involved with gardening 🙂
The man who built this house and lived here for 15 years is an artist, as is his daughter in law. There are a bunch of statues and sculptures all around. It is crazy cool! One day I will have to write about those in detail.
Thanks for your comment. I am loving your daylily photos! I gave up on growing them here bc of all the deer. They never stood a chance.
Angela
I have long suggested that my wife just eliminate the several peony plants that house ants and droop sadly due to the inadequate stem system. Why hasn’t some genius botanist developed a stronger stem for these short time blooms? They are beautiful for a couple days but worthless otherwise.
Hi Bill,
Agreed – I find it really hard to believe that the botanists haven’t improved on the stems yet. I just listened to a great podcast episode from A Way to Garden, in which a peony expert was interviewed. He described a method by which different varieties are planted in order to have blooms from April into early June. I hadn’t realized there were so many varieties. I guess they are not so locally available that I have seen.
Even with all their faults, ants and all, I can’t resist ’em. Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. I hope you’ll come back. I appreciate your thoughts.
Angela