Once the peonies have been divided, they can be replanted. I usually plant them about one foot apart but you might like to have them farther apart or scattered among roses or in perennial beds.

We dig down about one foot and mix in a little peat moss to the dirt. In the bottom of the rows we place some of the many rocks in my soil because I’ve gotten tired of seeing them!

The roots are gathered together by type and planted in rows

We try to plant rows of identical varieties but it is not always possible to have the numbers come out perfectly to fit the rows available. Sometimes the rows have more than one type. This has led to some surprises amid rows that can be attributed to letting someone dig up what they want and then planting a new one (apparently randomly!) in the available hole. This is not a practice that is being continued!

As the rows are planted with each division’s buds right below the soil surface, they begin to look very neat. Unfortunately, only about 2/3 of the divisions will have a flower next year, so some of my beds will have less color next April and May that in the last few years.  There are several older rows that will be blooming next year, however.

Juan Nunez Planting the Newly Divided Peonies

Some varieties die back earlier than others, but all of the herbaceous peonies that I sell die back completely. In a border, bulbs and annuals can be planted around them if care is taken not to dig into their roots as many can be fairly shallow.

My solution to Tagging My Peonies!

I have tried many labeling systems to no avail. Plastic tags (names rained off), metal tags (names rained off), writing in indelible ink on the horse fence besides (names rained off), copper tags embossed with a stylus (tags too small and disappeared). But this year, eureka, I think I have the answer. Near the end of the season when several varieties were still in bloom, I lit on the idea of painting some of the myriad rocks that come to the surface at any digging. I had four colors and then used combinations of colors to identify them and put one at the base of each identifiable plant. Then in mid October when we began to dig up the rows, I could separate varieties. Of course, there were many that had already gone out of bloom, but those have been planted in rows by themselves to be identified next year or in future years.

Happy Planting!