I use tomato cages. I put them out early March and train them to stay in the cage. Works pretty well.

My husband uses thin bamboo to hold up all his blooms, including peonies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The corral method didn't work for me. Came back from a 3 day work trip and the heavy rain destroyed them.

I mean they don’t last much longer than that anyway.

Rain is not the peony's friend. Certainly not the downpours we had last week.

Anonymous wrote:The corral method didn't work for me. Came back from a 3 day work trip and the heavy rain destroyed them.

I mean they don’t last much longer than that anyway.

The corral method didn't work for me. Came back from a 3 day work trip and the heavy rain destroyed them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yeah I mean, they’re for us. I grow them out of the way and just cut them as they start to open. I enjoy them longer inside.

How long do they last inside?
Does cutting the flowers reduce the plant's life in your garden?

Got this click bait article with other staking methods today:
https://www.bhg.com/staking-peonies-11720212

At least with my peonies, cutting the big primary flowers encourages the slightly smaller secondary buds to bloom. So I get twice as many flowers. Plus they smell absolutely amazing in a bouquet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yeah I mean, they’re for us. I grow them out of the way and just cut them as they start to open. I enjoy them longer inside.

How long do they last inside?
Does cutting the flowers reduce the plant's life in your garden?

Got this click bait article with other staking methods today:
https://www.bhg.com/staking-peonies-11720212

There are peonies that are often called “landscape quality” that are supposed to stay more upright

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yeah I mean, they’re for us. I grow them out of the way and just cut them as they start to open. I enjoy them longer inside.

Anonymous wrote: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?

They were bred to do this. They’re the bulldogs of the flower world.

Martha Stewart grows a huge peony garden, and she uses a big grid of taught cord. They grow through it.

I like to make plant supports from copper. You can get copper tubing at Home Depot and it’s really easy to cut with a handheld tube cutter. They sell connectors that just slide on. You can use nail polish to remove the writing on the pipe, and it will patina beautifully in just a season or two.

They also sell flexible copper tubing for refrigerators and copper wire. You can use instructions for making willow plant supports with those materials. Then you just have to have stakes in the ground and either secure the tubing to them with wire or you can slide the copper pipe right down over rebar or any kind of stake that will fit.

Basically I’m too lazy to clean up the plant supports over winter, and the copper looks a lot prettier to me than the green coated stuff.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Peonies won’t bloom well if the eyes are planted too deep. They should be buried no more than 2 inches deep. They also need at least 4-6 hours of direct sun to flower well. You can move them now but fall is a better time.