A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 peony ??

Hi everyone and thank you for your input in advance. My Dad passed away in the fall and we are working on the lawn work for Mom. Dad would tie up the peony bushes every year but none of us know what he did to do this. If anyone has any idea what I am talking about please let me know how we would go about getting these peonies tied so that they do not just bend and break. Thank you again...

Hi, first, my condolences to you.

For the peonies, I don't know exactly what your dad would do, but I stake them with a few (3-4) pieces of wood around the plant, and tie string to one piece, then stringing it around the wood pieces, you can either do it in a circle (around the outside of the wood), or make something like a spider web, stringing through the plant.

Does this make sense?

Hello, Skylar,
Your local farm supply or garden center store may have inexpensive peony frames for you to use. The benefit of those is that they can be put in place when the peonies first emerge from the ground and they can be pulled in the fall and used over and over. One version looks like a really fat tomato cage. The other is a simple ring with three legs that can be slid around the ring for placement. The latter would be much easier to store since they will hang flat on a wall.

Good for you for helping Mom!

I just tie a length of green jute around my peonies each year a couple of weeks before they bloom, about two thirds of the way up the bush. I make it just tight enough to hold them gently together. By the time they bloom the string is totally hidden under the leaves and they stand up to most storms.