It’s best to cut the flowers when they are very quickly fading to limit the plant’s initial energy loss towards seed production. It is helpful to fertilize the peony bush to help it regain strength after blooming. You may spray the plant with fungicides when necessary.
What To Do with Your Peony Bushes After They Bloom
How you care for your peony plants immediately after they blossom is what will determine how they perform the following year.
Should I Deadhead My Peony?
Yes, you should deadhead the bush as soon as the blooms are beginning to fade.
This is not only going to keep the bush looking clean, but it is also going to assist the plant in saving “energy” for next season.
If you leave the spent blooms on the bush, the plant will just keep wasting energy trying to keep them alive.
In fact, right after flowering, the buds will develop seeds, and that is a lot of energy too.
Once you take the spent blooms off, it redirects those nutrients to another part of the bush.
Some of the nutrients will go to making the foliage thicker, and some nutrients will be stored for next year.
Where Do You Cut Peony Flowers?
You should shorten the stem to the first set of leaves (1 or 2 inches below the flower). Only clean and sharp instruments (shears or scissors) work for this.
If you try to cut the stem with a dull pair of pruning shears, you can do unnecessary harm to the bush.
As long as you can make a clean cut with a small incision, you won’t take long for the plant to heal, nor take up too many of its resources.
It is vitally important to leave as much foliage on the bush as possible.
In Fall: the leaves will start turning yellow and at this time you will cut the entire bush to the ground.
Should I Fertilize Peony Bushes After They Bloom?
Yes, at this point, you should be fertilizing the bushes after they have bloomed.
Believe it or not, many plants require extra nutrients not only before the blooming cycle, but also right after it ends.
This is important because:
- The fertilizer helps the plant recover much faster after the cycle
- The fertilizer will give the bush some extra nutrients that it will be able to hold to save for next year’s blooming season
As for fertilizer, I recommend a mix of bone meal and compost.
The latter has all the nutrients needed, and the bone meal will help re-energize the plants roots.
If you prefer granular fertilizers, choose something with not too much nitrogen.
Even though the plant is still going to need nitrogen, the fertilizer should have higher amounts of phosphorus and potassium.
Should I Spray the Peonies with Fungicides?
Ideally, you’ll want to spray the fungicides at the beginning of the season. But you can use the remedy right after the flowering phase as well, because this will help protect the wounds the plant has which are heavily susceptible to invaders/pathogens.
The plant will have depleted most of its energy after it flowers, which means that it is weak.
Case in point, the bush may now get attacked by powdery mildew, for example.
Another common disease is Botrytis blight.
The worst part about Botrytis blight is the fungus will attack the bush when it is weak (right after the flowering cycle) and survive the cold winter(s) on the bush.
And this, as you can expect, will affect the flowering cycle in the next season.
The best option for controlling Botrytis blight is to remove the bush at the soil line at the end of the season (late September-eary October).
What to Avoid: Do not use the removed parts for compost or mulch – the fungus will survive in the plant debris and attack the new bushes in the spring.
How Should I Water My Peonies After They Bloom?
The soil surrounding the plant should be somewhat moist at all times. In general, the bush needs watering every 5-7 days depending on the soil type.
You wouldn’t have to water clay soil as often (once every 7-10 days will suffice).
However, sandy soils that drain quickly would need to be watered more frequently, as often as twice a week.
When watering, try to place the water away from the leaves, as water on foliage may lead to disease development.
What Not to Do with Your Peony Bushes After They Bloom?
You shouldn’t remove the bush right after it flowers and you shouldn’t cut the whole plant down too early.
If you plan on digging up and removing the plant, then you should do this in the fall.
It is not a good idea to plant peonies in the spring since the bushes will not do well with the hot summer weather.
Quick fact – Spring planted bushes usually will not yield flowers after the first year, and will typically require an extra year to flower.
Also, do not cut the bush back to the ground directly after the flowers bloom.
You should do this when the leaves are beginning to turn yellow. Cutting the plant down in spring or summer would do much more harm than good.
If the bush does not have leaves, then it is not able to produce any energy through photosynthesis.
The plant needs energy to grow roots and substantial energy to grow flowers next year.
For this reason, remove the flower only after it blooms and do not remove any foliage.
Do Peonies Flower More Than Once?
Peonies will not bloom for an entire summer. However, your plant can have flowers for over a month because all the buds do not open at once.
If you care for the plant properly, it will bloom again every year.
In fact, happy and healthy plants can bloom for over a hundred years.
The blooming period of peonies is usually 4-6 weeks in late spring. The flowers usually last 10-12 days.
You should try not to leave the flowers on the plant for more than 7 days. Cut the peony before it starts to seed.
Final Thoughts
What should you do with your peony bushes after they bloom?
The first thing you want to do is to deadhead the flowers as soon as they start to fade.
But, if you want your peony bushes to be healthy, then there are a few other points to keep in mind:
- It’s important to keep your plants well fed before, during, and after the flowering cycle. When the plant spends all its energy on flowering, it will be at its weakest, which is when it is most susceptible to disease.
- Only leave the flowers on the plant for about 7 days, and then you can remove them. It’s important to not touch the foliage at this time.
- In the fall, once the leaves are starting to turn yellow, is when you want to prune the plant down to the ground. Dispose of all debris so you aren’t allowing diseases, such as Botrytis blight, to return the following season.