There are few more repaying plants. Rabbits dislike them; their flowering season extends through May and June; they last for a week or more as picked flowers for the house; they will flourish in sun or semi-shade; they will tolerate almost any kind of soil, lime-free or otherwise; they will even put up with clay; they never need dividing or transplanting; in fact, they hate it; and they are so long-lived that once you have established a clump (which will not be difficult) they will probably outlive you. Add to all this that they will endure neglect.
-V. Sackville-West
In Your Garden: 1958
What Vita said is all very true. So why have I been indifferent to our four peony plants growing around our house? Let me explain, perhaps we’ll both learn something.
For years I’ve been disenchanted by peonies, particularly our peonies. I never paid much attention to other’s plants to correct my assumption that peonies are unimpressive in their flowering. Their foliage was outstanding, but the blooms? Almost nonexistent. Our largest produced only four blooms this year, and another plant, only one, while the other two continually produce nothing every year.
Surprisingly, I never gave it much thought as to why our plants were at odds with the consistently generous plants of our neighbors. However, it struck me last night when preparing for this post that we might be doing something wrong. I read a little passage from Vita which states, “Never cut [them] down“, very seriously and in italics! Then I realized our problem.
As I recall, for years we have been cutting them in autumn. Now mind you, I didn’t give two hoots about gardening up until three years ago (I was raising toddlers), and even then, never paid attention to the peonies because they never produced much of anything. But here was the problem:
My husband chopped them and I didn’t care because they never produced many blooms. So this cyclical pattern began where my husband chopped them every year and I sat back not caring because they never bloomed anyway. But they never bloomed because he was chopping them. You see where we goofed?
So this fall I will say no to chopping them down, and hopefully next year they will produce more blooms and I will acquire a new opinion. I have however, always liked cutting them for bouquets. They do very well, (lasting over a week) and will add fragrance to an entire room. I have always liked this quality about them. They smell wonderfully nostalgic to me-like sweet lemon, and remind me of Victorian front porches dappled with morning sun.
Thank you for reading…
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