Peonies: how to keep them upright?

[Anonymous]

I have tried several different systems over the years - when the plants were smaller, I used tomato cages. Now they are way too full to squeeze into those, so I’ve been trying these:
https://a.co/d/0Q7eRJa

They were the biggest pain in the net to set up and they don’t look like they’ll even hold the plants up - just the very top blooms that can rest on the edge.

What do you use to support your peonies? I am so tired of searching for a solution that doesn’t actually work! Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

We bought a house with really large, well developed peony bushes. They didn't need anything to hold them up. I wonder if it is just time and maturation.

I was just looking at tall wooden gardening stakes a Home Depot. About an inch square and about 3 ft tall. I wonder if you could attach each base/branch to a tall stake as they grow and strengthen.

[Anonymous]

I just clicked on your link. If your bushes as small, then these should work fine, and easier than the stakes.

[Anonymous]

You can get peony rings with a grid inside that holds the blooms up better. Check Gardeners Supply website - they have some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with really large, well developed peony bushes. They didn't need anything to hold them up. I wonder if it is just time and maturation.

I was just looking at tall wooden gardening stakes a Home Depot. About an inch square and about 3 ft tall. I wonder if you could attach each base/branch to a tall stake as they grow and strengthen.

Those are probably tree peonies, or a hybrid between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. They are lovely! They bloom earlier than herbaceous peonies (they may be coming into bloom now) and they have a woody structure so can hold themselves up. They are more like small shrubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get peony rings with a grid inside that holds the blooms up better. Check Gardeners Supply website - they have some.

Yeah, this is what we use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get peony rings with a grid inside that holds the blooms up better. Check Gardeners Supply website - they have some.

OP here - thank you!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for asking this, my husband and I were just talking about this! This is our second spring in the house and we thought maybe they fell to the ground last year because we didn't know we had to cut it down to the ground in the fall so all the dead leaves were still around, but we cut everything back in the winter and they look like they are going to do the same thing this year, too. I'll look for peony rings!

[Anonymous]

So are we supposed to put these down when they first start growing in the early spring?

[Anonymous]

I leave the supports in year round and guide the stems in as they come up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with really large, well developed peony bushes. They didn't need anything to hold them up. I wonder if it is just time and maturation.

I was just looking at tall wooden gardening stakes a Home Depot. About an inch square and about 3 ft tall. I wonder if you could attach each base/branch to a tall stake as they grow and strengthen.

Those are probably tree peonies, or a hybrid between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. They are lovely! They bloom earlier than herbaceous peonies (they may be coming into bloom now) and they have a woody structure so can hold themselves up. They are more like small shrubs.

They're called intersectional peonies. This is what I have and they do not need staking. They're absolutely lovely.

[Anonymous]

Those enormous-headed peonies with the weak stems look so silly -- either floppy or in prison. Free the peonies!

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to say I opened this thread because I read that as ponies, not peonies....and was wondering why your ponies were falling over or asleep.

[Anonymous]

For all these peony experts…I planted two several years ago but they basically don’t bloom. I might get one flower per year out of the two plants. Is there some fertilizer I can use? Can I move them? If so.is now a good time to move them? They have big glossy leaves but no flowers.

[Anonymous]

Dumb question, but why do poenies even fall over in the first place? What would they ever do in nature? Or were they bred like this by humans to be freaks of nature?