How To Plant Peonies Video

How To Plant Peonies (Video Text)

Today we a planting a peony  root at Peony Farm.  Heather is planting a Seashell peony.  She is positioning the root so that it won't be covered by more than 1" of sol.  She is also adding some peat  moss to the soil.  When she covers the root with soil,  she tamps the soil down to avoid air pockets.

Newly Dug Peonies 2012

How to Divide Peonies Video - a 3 Part Presentation

Step by Step Illustration on how to divide peonies

Part 1 of 3, How to Divide Peonies

How to Divide Peonies (Video text) Part 1

First, you want to loosen the soil.  Clear off mulch and top soil until you have a visual on the roots.
Carefully dig wide away from the center of the peony crown.  Peonies have radiated roots that can be at least 18-24 inches from the crown.
Using a gardening fork, slowly loosen the peony all around.  Do these several rounds until you have the bottom of the plant.
Then, carefully uproot the peony.
Once you have it out, hose it down so you can clearly see where the eyes and the roots are.
Divide the peonies as you see fit, trying to get at least 3-5 eyes per division.

Part 2 of 3, How To Divide Peonies

How to Divide Peonies Part 2 (Video Text)

What you see here is the cleaned up uprooted peony plant root.
The parts you are looking at are:  the eyes (pointy protruberance), the stems that has been cut back, and the carrot looking part are the roots.
Examine the root and identify areas to insert the knife for the division.
When you do,  make sure that where you are cutting has some roots associated with it.
Do your division.

Part 3 of 3, How To Divide Peonies

How to Divide Peonies Part 3 (Video text)

This division that I am holding has more than 4 eyes.
When dividing peonies,  huge root system doesn't necessarily mean great, because the eyes has to feed that root system.
Examine your root.  You might find out that there are roots that are not part of your division.  It was just intertwined with that division.
Also, jiggle it a little bit.  A root system that isn't part of the division will yield and you might just find out another division.  The peony roots do intertwine and so you never know until you are holding that division.

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• Video 1:  Overview - Why
• Steps to take to put your peonies to bed for fall -
• Video 2:  Herbaceous Peonies
• Video 3:  Itoh Peonies
• Video 4:  Tree Peonies

Part 1 Overview

Part 2 Herbaceous Peonies

Part 3 ITOH Peonies

Part 4 Tree Peonies

Remember to add about 5-6" of mulch at the base of the Tree Peony at Winter time to avoid heaving!

Peony  Farm Gardens your Peony Central 2204 Happy Valley Road, Sequim, WA 98382 Tel: 360.808.4099 Peony Viewing Days: May 15 to June 30 Farm Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11am-4pm Facebook web address: http://www.facebook.com/peonyfarm To contact us, please use the Contact Form.