It ’s peony season here in Minnesota , which usually means an abundance of blooms and a few peony problems . Peonies are aheritage plantin our part of the world and typically blossom for a couple of weeks in early summer . We have several peony breeders in the state and some holdopen daysduring this time of the year .

On the whole , they are one of the easiest , most maintenance - free and long - lived industrial plant in the garden , but there can be a few peony problems . This year , the heat energy is a small progeny . We ’ve set heat records this week , and that means the plants will bloom and fade cursorily . Like a lot of other gardeners , I ’ve been running around snipping buds just before they bloom to contribute them into the house . They last a bit longer in the vase and I can relish their aroma while hiding from the passion .

Here are four more uncouth peony problems and what to do about them .

healthy pink peony about to open in a northern garden

Flopping

Easily the most common peony job is that they founder over . Peony rosiness are gravid compare to their stems . Add some rain or a windy day and they terminate up bloomside down on the ground . Installing plant supports early in the season is the best way to forestall flopping . I ’ve used a variety of supports bothhalf - dress circle supportsandfull circle supports , and the full - circle supports work well for paeony . Get metal rather than plastic , if you’re able to afford it , and face carefully at the size of the support before buying . Some gardener usemodified tomato cagesas supports , too .

Whichever support you choose , get it on the flora early — preferably before or just as shoots emerge in spring . Even with a backup , you may have a bloom or two flop over . Just pick it and bring it into the house .

you’re able to also choose variety ofpeonies that have been bred to have stronger root . Many of these areItoh peonies , which are a cross between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies . The heritage peonies that I sleep with are floppers , so support is compulsory .

pink peony flopped over after rain

Powdery Mildew

I ’m facing a case ofpowdery mildewon one of my peonies this twelvemonth . Powdery mold is a fungal experimental condition that flourishes when plants are in dampish or trying conditions . It has not been a wet yr , but this special peony is planted next to a service department paries and very near to a pocket-size tree diagram and other paeony . The conditions are not idealistic as paeony do proficient with plenty of sun and good deal of airwave flow around them .

There are a variety of atomizer and mixture you may attempt to reduce powdery mildew — most moderate a horticultural crude , such as neem oil color . However , theUniversity of Minnesotaand many other experts advocate just tolerate powdery mildew during the growing time of year . At the end of the season , you should be certain to remove all the infected leaves from the area . Given how bad my powdery mildew is , I plan to prune out some of the paeony stem after bloom to give the plant more airflow . In the nightfall , I ’ll collect all the leaves and stems and put them in the shabu .

Should I move myDuchesse de Nemourspeony ? That’san option , but it should not be done until September . I have a few sunnier , more open spots in my front garden that would look great with a paeony in them . Moving the peony might bring on the next peony job , however .

foliage of peony covered with white spots from powdery mildew

Not Blooming

Every now and then , a paeony will not bloom . There are lots of reason paeony do n’t bloom and most of them are of short duration . For instance , if I move the powdery mould peony , it might not bloom next summer . Peonies last up to 100 years , but it takes them for a while to get accustomed to a Modern location . Other reasons peonies might not bloom are that they were plant improperly ( commonly too deeply ) , over - fertilise , or found in a seat with too little sunlight . If your paeony was planted in the past couple of class , do n’t interest too much about the lack of bloom . After that , however , you may want to considerother reasonswhy it might be not be blossom .

Botrytis Blight

Another common paeony problem isbotrytis blight . It ’s also call gray mold and is another fungous disease that occurs most often during smashed growing seasons . It can be devastating , causing shuck to waste and buds to fall off . ab initio , the disease calculate almost like your paeony has blackspot , which rotary carmine brown spot on the foliage . Buds will be brown and ill-humoured .

Like powdery mildew , clean house up the leaf in the fall and disposing of it is one step to prevent the disease from taking hold . encourage drainage and tune circulation and planting peonies in sunny conditions also helps . Do not compost diseased foliage to preclude further spread of the disease .

These are not theonly problemswith peony but are the most common . Overall , peony are easy care , long durable and beautiful . Every northern garden should have at least one .

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