Peony
Paeonia lactiflora
Lavish late-spring bloom — long-lived, bee-thronged, the pride of the border.
Light Full sun to part shade
Water Moderate
USDA zones 3a–8b
Height 60 cm–1 m
Spread 2 ft 11 in
Spacing 90 cm–1 m
Sow depth Deep
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 2 ft 11 in
- In-row spacing
- 2 ft 11 in
- Between rows
- 3 ft 3 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Calendar (from your frost dates)
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- First harvest
- 30 days after the last spring frost
- Harvest ends
- 100 days before the first fall frost
Growing
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Watering
- Moderate
- Soil
- Deep, rich, well-drained
- Feeding
- Bone meal in spring, with the mulch kept pulled back from the crown.
- USDA zones
- 3a–8b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Take herbaceous types down to the ground in autumn.
Through the year
- Mar–Mar Bud Break
- Mar–May Spring Growth
- May–Jul Flowering
- Jul–Oct Growing
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
Harvest
- When
- Cut in cool morning during the brief late-spring–early-summer window; the whole season is 2–3 weeks per variety, so timing is everything.
- What to look for
- The marshmallow test: cut when the bud is colored and yields to a gentle squeeze like a soft marshmallow — still round and closed but no longer hard. Hard buds won't open; open flowers last only days.
- How to harvest
- Cut stems 18–24 in with sharp pruners but never take more than a third to half the stems from one plant, and leave at least two sets of leaves on each cut stem — the foliage feeds next year's bloom. Ants on buds are harmless; shake or rinse them off.
- How often
- One glorious annual harvest per plant; deadhead spent garden blooms to the first leaf to keep energy in the root. Plants get more generous every year for decades.
- Storing the crop
- Marshmallow-stage stems hold 2–4 weeks dry-wrapped in paper in the refrigerator — recut and vase them for bloom on demand. In the vase, 5–9 days, opening spectacularly. Change water every other day.
Companions
Roses, Iris, Geraniums, Alliums
Pests & problems
Did you know?
Slow to settle but immensely long-lived — a peony can outlast the gardener who planted it.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com