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brenda158

newbie please help

brenda158
18 years ago

I have a few volunteer peony's growing in my front garden. I don't want them there but I am building a new bed in the backyard in the fall. Can I overwinter them in some pots, and if so any advice? The sad part is I think I've pulled about 20 plants in the last 2 years before my mom told me what they were.

TIA Brenda

Comments (6)

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    18 years ago

    If you are going to create a bed for them in the fall, then just wait until fall to dig them up and plant them then. Fall is the recommended time for planting peonies as a general guideline. There would be no need to container them in order to plant in spring.

  • blueheron
    18 years ago

    Do your peonies have volunteer seedlings? I've never heard of that.

  • brenda158
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I moved into my house 3yrs ago next month. As I wasn't really sure what was in my garden, and what was there hadn't been maintained I ripped out everything and started from scratch.
    As I mentioned in the previous two years I've ripped up numerous peony's, I didn't know what they were.

  • Peony_Grower
    18 years ago

    The problem with overwintering in pots is that thy almost always freze and die unless kept in a green house. Like Jenny said, move them in the fall, and then look for new shoots in the spring in the old bed. When you find them in the spring, then you can move the them also. I dought if you have damaged any of them by pulling them up. Their root systems are hard to pull up. You probably just pulled the top growth off at the crowns and it takes a lot more than that to kill them. Even if you pulled the crown off the root the root will form a new crown over time. And yes Peonies do come up volinter from seed. It takes special conditions of germination followed by cool damp conditions that can be reproduced by the home gardener. The only drawback is it takes five years to grow a peony from seed.

  • Emma_Goldman_48
    18 years ago

    Yup, I'm another newbie, and yup, my question is about peonies. Can I propagate a new plant from a cutting taken from a mature plant? If yes, how? I need "idiot-proof" instructions, please -- my knowledge of gardening is limited to admiring other people's! Here's why I'm interested in grabbing a piece of a peony and planting it in my yard. There's an ENORMOUS old peony bush growing along the side of an elevated 8-lane highway that cuts through my neighborhood. I can't imagine how it established itself there, but I've watched it grow (and grow and grow) for a dozen years. Right now, there are about 30 huge blossoms on it (drooping because they're so heavy) and each blossom is surrounded by at least six buds the size of tennis balls. It's breathtaking. Can I snatch a stalk or a branch, root it, and plant it? How would I go about it?

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    18 years ago

    My containered peonies don't freeze and die over winter outside and they are out completely unprotected. ;-) Peonies, particularly the herbaceous ones, are extremely hardy, which makes a great plant for the northern grower.

    {{gwi:281}}

    However if one has the ground and the means to plant them there, then that would be for the best.

    Emma - there are a couple threads on this forum about cuttings and the general consensus is that for herbaceous types, it would be near impossible. The best way would be to try to dig up some of the rhizomes/roots and try to get a least a couple eyes on each of the pieces that you manage to get.