A Peony for Every Garden

Follow this guide for the best tips on when to plant, transplant and pamper these popular, lasting blooms

- By Rachael Liska

Long-living with showy blooms and a low-maintenance reputation, peonies are model perennials.

They strut their stuff in spring with a parade of flowers in hues of yellow, red, coral, pink, purple and white. But for peonies to truly shine, autumn is the ideal season for planting, transplanting and maintaining them, so they can turn heads for years to come.

Ideal Perennials

With more than 8,000 registered peony cultivars, the Paeonia genus has something for everybody. Hybrids and cultivars of herbaceous peonies (P.lactiflora) often conjure up nostalgia with their delicate, crepe paper-like petals and the subtle fragrance that has perfumed many a grandmother's garden. In spring, their stems poke through the ground before growing into a bushy plant. They eventually die back in late fall and remain dormant over winter.

"Herbaceous peonies tend to be easier to grow and care for," says Nate Bremer, president of the American Peony Society. "Hybrids that produce strong stems which need no support are my favorites."

A top recommendation from Nate is the Etched Salmon cultivar, with long-lasting salmon pink blooms that have the appearance of luscious double peonies.

Woody peonies (P.suffruticosa) are called tree peonies by some, despite being shrubs. They require less sun and aren't as prone to flopping. They often bloom before herbaceous peonies, extending the amount of time peonies can be appreciated in the garden.

"Suffruticosas produce otherworldly flowers and are gorgeous in the early garden," Nate says. "These plants are used by small native bird species, such as chipping sparrows and hummingbirds, as nesting shrubs." Itoh peonies are a cross between woody and herbaceous peonies. These hybrids maintain green foliage late into the fall.