Message Boards

I have to move my peony.It's in full bloom right now.When would be the best time to move it?

Found this on Gardening Central for you:

"""Fall Is Best, But Spring Will Work - How a peony reacts to being transplanting, depends partly on when you do it and partly on how you do it. In general, transplanting peonies in mid-summer is not a good idea as they will certainly wilt and probably die. This is true of many plants. A hot summer day is not a good time to transplant anything and hot, dry weather will place a great deal of stress, often too much, on a plant that is being transplanted. Autumn is the best time, but this is not a hard and fast rule. You can transplant peonies in the springtime as well. In fact if you are faced with a situation where you must transplant an established peony (because of construction, or it's a favorite plant and you are moving), you can do it at any time. It's just that mid-summer is not the best time, nor is mid-winter in many places, so you do your best and cross your fingers.

If You Can't Wait An Extra Year, Don't Transplant - One thing is certain. You will set the plant back. This isn't necessarily bad; it's just that during the first season following transplanting, the peony may give few blooms or none at all. Usually by the second, and almost always by the third season, the plant will be back in its prime. There is also the possibility that transplanting may actually be best for the plant. A peony plant will very often give many beautiful blooms for many years, and then its performance will begin to decline. If that happens, you can dig up the plant, divide the roots, and transplant several smaller clumps. In a couple of years you should have several plants blooming just as well as the original plant ever did. You may read somewhere that peonies should not be divided, but that simply isn't true. Peonies take to dividing quite well. Again, be prepared for the plants being set back for one and possibly two growing seasons. As is the case with transplanting peonies, dividing them will give optimum results when done in the fall after the foliage has died back."""

An example for you: My neighbor dug up his peony & divided it right after it was done blooming. He gave me a nice division, I planted it right away & it did bloom for me the next year and has for every year thereafter. This was in late spring. Sooooo, dig a hole where you want to move it, dig it up with plenty of soil around it & place in new hole...water well...leave all the foliage on. Plant it at the same depth as the original plant. That's what I did & I had great luck.

I moved 2large bushes that were 50+ years old a few years ago. I divided them and made 40 bushes! All are doing well. So, what I did was...
Second week of September
Cut stems back to 6-10 inches from ground
Dig up whole plant
Divide so there is about 3 eyes per plant
Look up how deep to plant them in your area
Usually 2-6 inches deep
First spring, cut off flower buds so the energy goes to root production, not flowers

I did two rows of peonies. One I mulched and one I didn't. The mulched ones look great! The second ones got mulched this year.

Another peony question...I have had one for many years, has always bloomed but this year it looks horrible!!! It has only 2 buds which I don't even think will bloom and a white residue on the leaves. I am so bummed because I love them

Any idea what it is and what I can do? Thanks

Thanks for all the help.I'm moving it because it is at the end of an old fence that had to be taken down.Now it is all by itself and looks very out of place.But I can wait till fall to move it.Thanks again!

Loveangels -- The white residue on your peony leaves might be powdery mildue. See your local nursery to verify and to buy fungicide.