I've never had problems with mildew so hopefully someone with experience will pipe in! I guess our "high desert" climate does have some advantages...I'd think it'd be better to cut back the foliage to just a few inches rather than risk losing the entire plant, though. We're really only a couple of weeks before the traditional "best" period for dividing/transplanting peonies, anyway.

Let us know how they do....

I've read about people mowing down their peonies at the first sign of browning from dieback, so their gardens would stay looking nice. That would occur about now. Their peonies would grow back healthy the next year. I've never done it myself.

I'm going to cut them down this weekend. The only one with no mildew is the Bartzilla. That one I'll wait till end of September.

We've had lots of rain here this summer, I've never had mildew on peonies before like this. I cut mine back to the ground, I figured they aren't doing anything anyway. One was so bad I cut it back last month