The peony (bot. Paeonia officinalis) is a beautiful perennial, wonderfully fragrant plant. It develops large flowers and can actually grow very old. It can bloom and delight you in your garden every year for up to 40 years. This requires a little more care and also some weeding. Are your peonies no longer blooming, or if you replanted them, are they not blooming at all? What could be the causes and how can you solve the problem? We have put together 7 tips for you that will help your beautiful plant bloom again.
Peonies Not Blooming: 7 Causes and Their Solutions
Peonies do not bloom: the plant is too young
Peonies grow very slowly. A newly purchased peony can take about 1 year to bloom for the first time and another 2 - 3 years to bloom profusely. With cheap plant imports from discounters, the plant may even need 2 to 3 years to bloom for the first time. Even plants that you have divided yourself and that are perhaps a little small will also take a little longer. If you thePeony from seedsIf you have grown it, it can even take 3 to 5 years until the first flowers appear and a full 5 to 8 years until they bloom profusely.
What you can do
In this case, just wait! Your plant will bloom. Give it time, peonies grow slowly.
Planting too deep
When planting a peony, the “eyes” need to be in the soil, but not too deep – 2 to 5 cm at most. On the other hand, the leaves grow but not the flowers, or if they do, only a few of them.
What you can do
Dig up the plant and replant it at the correct depth. Autumn is best suited for this; this season is considered the bestfor transplantingof peonies. If you don't correct them, the plant will do it itself, but this can take 10 years.
Adult peony was transplanted without prior division
Adult peonies in particular do not like being transplanted. The plant may respond by not flowering for long periods of time, around 4-5 years.
What you can do
Instead of transplanting a peony with the entire root intact, divide the plant. You should be careful not to divide them too small. There should be around 3 to 5 eyes, and in no case less (see the first problem mentioned above in this article). Proper division can have an invigorating effect on the plant and reward it with abundant flowers.
Peonies don't bloom: Too much shade
Peonies love sunlight. They also grow in shady locations, but do not bloom quite as profusely.
What you can do
If necessary, transplant the plant to a sunnier location or, if necessary, remove overhanging tree branches that create the shade. Another option is if you want to plant a peony in a specific place, whereShade or partial shadeIt is preferable to plant a variety that can cope with less sunlight, such as: B. Paeonea obovata.
The foliage was pruned too early
After flowering, the plant feeds on the foliage and, after the flowering period, begins to prepare for the next one and to gather strength. If you prune the plant too early, it will not be able to do this and may produce few or no flowers.
You can do that
Do not prune the plant immediately after flowering. Don't grab the secateurs until September at the earliest, or even better in October. A sign that the plant is done for the season is when the leaves turn slightly red.
Too much fertilizer used
It rarely happens that a peony does not bloom because it has not been fertilized enough. However, this happens more often if, on the contrary, it has been fertilized too frequently or the wrong fertilizer has been used.
You can do that
Find out about the right fertilizer for your plant at the garden center. Preferably organic, not synthetic, because then you are doing something good for your plant and the environment. Remember that it is a slow growing plant that requires less fertilizing.
Peonies do not bloom: late frost
Normally the plant is quite cold-resistant in winter, but if there is a late frost in the spring, namely when it has already developed buds, this can cause them to die and there will be no flowers that year.
What you can do
If you know frost is coming and you see that the first buds have already appeared, you can make a tent structure out of an old blanket and some sticks to protect the plant.
Why buds don't open in the vase and what you can dofind out here.
