When to plant peonies?
- Botanical name
- Paeonia officinalis
- Family
- Paeoniaceae
Peonies are planted from September to October. They flower from April to June.
Peonies are perennial plants.
Peonies through the year
- planting
- flowering
In short
Growing conditions
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
Peony botrytis
disease- Signs
- The flower buds turn brown and dry up before they open. The stem blackens at ground level and the shoot keels over, and in damp weather a grey mouldy coating forms on the affected parts. The same plant often gets irregular brown violet spots on the leaves as well (peony leaf blotch).
- Prevention
- In autumn cut all the top growth down to the ground and take it out of the garden, not onto the compost, because that is where the disease overwinters. Leave enough room between the plants for the air to move, do not overwater and do not wet the leaves.
- What to do
- Cut affected buds, shoots and leaves back to a healthy part as they appear and remove them. There is no product for the home garden, and the measure is the autumn clear up.
Powdery mildew
disease- Signs
- A white, floury coating spreads over the leaves, first on the lower and older ones. The leaf under it yellows and dries up. The fruit stays small, because the plant loses leaf surface.
- Prevention
- Plant resistant varieties, leave an airy spacing and sun, and clear the debris at the end of the season. Unlike most fungi it is not helped by wet foliage, since it spreads in heat and high air humidity, in a dry summer too.
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Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, Clemson Cooperative Extension, CliniTox Pflanzengifte, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, University of Illinois Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: KGZS, Royal Horticultural Society, UF/IFAS Extension, University of Maryland Extension, Utah State University Extension.