Transplanting & Dividing Peonies

[Hattie the Hen]

I've moved peonies in the Spring because I had to. I rang a famous commercial grower here in the UK (Kellaways) for advice; they said dig large holes where you want to locate them, put in lots of rich compost, water that & then dig out the peonies with a very large rootballs and plant them immediately & water them in. It is very important that they are planted so they sit up in the hole because if planted in a deep hole the rain water forms a sump & kills off the plant. Peonies push their roots etc up slightly above the soil level & you have to maintain that relationship. I would definitely not divide them now but do it later in the year. Mine have done really well & bloom like mad, so GOOD LUCK !
:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a question about peonies....

I transplanted mine to a new location in the yard a couple of years back. Last year I had a few blossoms but mainly the buds were small, dried up and brown. This year they all didn't make it past pea-sized and then dried up, turned brown.

What do they need? They foliage seems green and thick, though not as tall as it used to get.

This was an old, old plant that had been established for many years until I divided it and planted two seperate plants. The other division died the first year and never came back.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I suspect that you maybe planted them too deep! You say it was an old & very established clump s as it grew it will have pushed itself up above the soil level & when you divided & replanted they got covered up too much. I would try & get the earth off the top 25% so it gets a good amount of sunlight on it. Is it out in the open or under trees -- it needs full sunshine. Try watering it with aspirin water -- I have been having quite a success with this since I read about it on this forum & doing a bit of ferreting around on the web.

When you replanted did you dig in a lot of very good compost? I have never had any problems with moving peonies but I have noticed that as my other shrubs grow & shade out the sunlight the peonies react badly & I have to release them from their dark prison by cutting back the others.

Good Luck! :coolsun

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Beekissed]

Sunlight on the roots? Sort of like with irises? I can do that....actually I thought my chickens had done it already but I can make sure! And aspirin for the finish? I was thinking about digging beside it and depositing some organic matter, like grass clippings and such.

It gets full sun until late evening, so it has plenty of exposure.

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try this.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I would not heat them up with grass cuttings at this point. I think that might stress them more. What you could do is get in touch with a peony specialist nursery & pick their brains as I did before I moved mine. It could be that some bug is attacking their roots that I have no experience of! You do seem to have a lot more predators over in the US than we have in the UK !

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[lupinfarm]

We just actually divided up a few of our peonies that were a bit too big, mum just dug up a stalk and roots and kept it watered. They're doing pretty good too.