The tree peony is one of the beauty queens of the garden with its haughty bearing and abundant flowering. But to enjoy the magnificence of this shrub exception, it is necessary to plant it in the right place, to prune it according to the rules of the art but only in certain cases, and to give it the regular care it deserves. Thus pampered, the tree peony can display a longevity of the order of 50 years! And contrary to popular belief, it is far from capricious. Here is everything you need to know to grow this plant that we love as much for its sophistication as for its resistance to cold and disease.
Plant the tree peony
It is one of the most wonderful flowering plants that can be installed in your garden, small or large, in town or in the country. We reserve a place for him sheltered from cold windssituated at mi-shadows because direct sunlight in the middle of summer could burn it. However, a little sun is still necessary for her, and she appreciates it as long as her radiation remains moderate.
The tree peony hates compact and heavy soils. On the contrary, she likes light, rich, cool, well-drained and deep soils. It is also content with poor soil, but in this type of soil it is less floriferous. It is very important to choose its location taking into account all these criteria because the beautiful don’t like to be moved. Might as well make sure to reserve a corner for him permanently.
About the planting period tree peony, it is between the last week of September and the end of April, provided periods of heavy rain and of course frost are avoided.
She can’t be planted only in the ground. Its container culture is strongly discouraged because it would not allow the tree peony to have enough soil. Here is the method to follow.
- Dig a hole of generous dimensions, 40 cm deep and 50-60 cm wide.
- Take care to make two piles with the soil removed from the planting hole, in order to separate that of the bottom and that of the surface.
- Loosen the soil so that it is light. It must be crumbled, remove stones, weeds, roots and other plant debris.
- Place the tree peony stalk in the center of the hole.
- Ensure that the collar or grafting point is 10 cm away below from ground level.
- Fill the hole with the crumbled earth, each pile having to be put back in its place (bottom and surface).
- Finally add fertilized soil.
- Tamp the soil without hurting the roots of the shrub.
- Carry out copious watering.
If you want to plant several feet of tree peonies, you must leave a distance of 100 to 120 cm between them.
Caring for the tree peony
After its installation, the tree peony must benefit, in dry weather, from regular watering until it is perfectly rooted. Subsequently, apart from periods of drought, it can be satisfied with the rains. When these are sorely lacking, it is of course necessary to take out the garden hose and make sure to wet the soil on a wide enough perimeter all around the foot so that the entire root system can benefit from this irrigation.
This is in autumn that it is appropriate to bring him all the nutrients what she needs. We can do a addition of mature compost or of decomposed manure placed in mulch at the foot of the tree peony in October or November. As for its protection against frost, it is only useful in regions with extremely harsh winters because this shrub is able to withstand temperatures of -16 to -24°C without batting an eyelid.
Pruning a tree peony is not a good idea
In order to preserve the beauty of this plant, it is necessary remove faded flowers gradually, while waiting for each one to have lost all its petals. On the other hand, it is strongly not recommended to prune a tree peony (with exceptions) because this would have no other effect than to corrupt its growth. We therefore do not touch it if it ramifies naturally.
We can therefore retain that it is necessary to shorten the stems of the previous year by approximately 30% of their length only if the base becomes thin. We only intervene during the period of vegetative rest et except on frost days. Pruning is also helpful if the antler is unbalanced or does not expand sufficiently. We then opt for a moderate pruning, even if it is carried out in stages, over two or three years, in order to preserve flowering but also because the reconstitution of this shrub is very slow. In this case, it is necessary to fold back either above a shoot, or above a leaf, but always a few centimeters below a flower.
The pruning of the tree peony therefore consists only of:
- Cut dead wood because it can become the nest of parasites or promote the development of pathogenic fungi,
- Remove a few stems on which the flowers have faded to prevent the shrub from producing seeds.
At most we can remove two or three branches if really the foot sports a totally inelegant silhouette. Be that as it may, the cut must always be clean and straight, and to prevent rainwater or irrigation water from stagnating and causing rotting, care must be taken to cut at a bevel, as this promotes the flow of the water.