A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 hello

Anybody wanna to talk about peony or dahlia?

I'm always willing to talk about peonies. And I just planted my first dahlia. A yellow one. It sprouted yesterday so I'm very excited.

I have 5 peonies. One that has flowered and 4 that haven't yet. Next year will be their third year in the ground at this location so I am expecting great things.

The one that sprouted looks very much like the powderpuff peony. It was very attractive but a heavy rain caused it to shatter after about a week.

The strange thing about it is that it is a single stock. And that hasn't increased. It is the largest of all of the peonies standing about 30 inches tall. The rest are standing about 12 inches tall.

I'm using the alphalpha pellets as a fertilizer.

I would enjoy hearing about your plants.

I have a few peony plants that are very old. I'm always stumped as to weather I should mow them now that the blooms are way done and the plants are practicaly laying on the ground. I'd like to mow them to kind of clean up that area. Does that hurt next yrs blooms?

I have several Peonies and I was always told to cut the foliage down almost to the ground in the fall.

The leaves have an important job to do and that is to produce food that is stored in the tuberous roots over the winter. This food helps to support the plant growth in the spring and makes for a healthier plant. However, if you cut back the foliage prematurely, then the plant will make and store less food. The longer you leave the foliage the better, but it should be cut back shortly after the first hard frost.