Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays
  • Videos
  • current issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 14 Fresh Places to Eat, Drink, Play & Stay This Summer

      14 Fresh Places to Eat, Drink, Play & Stay This Summer

      Hot off the minds of Midwest travel writers: a fresh look at where to eat, drink, play and stay around the region. Read More
    • Out Now: Best of the Midwest 2022

      Out Now: Best of the Midwest 2022

      Find your summer adventure with our new bookazine, available now in the magazine store! Read More
    • This Family's Garden Farm is a Nature-Filled Paradise

      This Family's Garden Farm is a Nature-Filled Paradise

      On land passed down through generations, a Wisconsin family experiences—and shares—the glory of gardening. Read More
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    Urban-Pop Art, a New Boutique Hotel and More—Here's What to See and Do in Fort Wayne Right Now

    Urban-Pop Art, a New Boutique Hotel and More—Here's What to See and Do in Fort Wayne Right Now

    On a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana, catch a colorful wave of fresh development, plus a new hotel from the cofounder of Vera Bradley.
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Family Travel
    • Around the Region
    • Beyond the Region
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food
    Mango Toast with Prosciutto

    Mango Toast with Prosciutto

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home
    5 Clever Tips for Repurposing a Potting Bench as a Bar Cart 

    5 Clever Tips for Repurposing a Potting Bench as a Bar Cart 

    With smart accessorizing, a potting bench becomes a celebration station for summer soirees.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden
    Expert Tips for Growing a Window Box Garden

    Expert Tips for Growing a Window Box Garden

    Casey Lawrence’s lush window boxes were a revelation to her online followers. Use her tips to grow your own.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    Festive 4th of July Dessert Recipes

    Festive 4th of July Dessert Recipes

    Get out your red, white and blue for these patriotic dessert recipes.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Thanksgiving
    • Halloween
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing

    These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing

    Don't toss those orange peels! Instead, use them as vessels for our super-simple and fragrant candles.
    • Brighten Your Front Door with This Colorful Easter Egg Wreath
    • These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing
    • Ring in the New Year with This Glam Star Garland
    • How to Make a Modern Fruit Cake Box
    • An Eye-Catching Oval Treat Box You Can Make
    • Make a Colorful Paper Raffia Wreath to Welcome Fall
    • How to Make a Dried Floral Arrangement
    • How to Make an Easy Pina Colada
    • How to Make an Amazing Pavlova
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
  • current issue

    current issue

    See All current issue
    Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2022

    Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2022

    • March/April 2022 Issue
    • January/February 2022 Issue
    • November/December 2021 Issue
    • September/October 2021 Issue
    • July/August 2021 Issue
    • May/June 2021 Issue
    • Summer 2022 Issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Flowers
  4. Peony Passion

Peony Passion

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com Updated August 02, 2020
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Peony beauty

Peonies might bring to mind times gone by, but with a variety of forms and new colors, they're also the perfect way to update your garden.

Start Slideshow

1 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Peony beauty

Peony beauty

Fragrant, beautiful and long-lived—the peony captivates our senses and evokes instant associations, such as grandma's garden or a spring wedding. Yet this feel-good flower isn't just a bloom of the past. Peonies' giant, color-packed blossoms invigorate contemporary gardens, too. Follow our guide to grow your own or build a brilliant bouquet.

Pictured: This easy arrangement features three gorgeous varieties: (top center) 'Do Tell', (top right and bottom left) 'Coral Charm', (top left and bottom right) 'Diana Parks'.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Why peonies?

Why peonies?

The peony is like the little black dress of flowers: stylish, timeless and always reliable. In fact, gardeners have been planting these beauties for more than a century. "If well-sited, peonies can bloom for 50, 75, 100 years," says Roy Klehm, peony expert and owner of Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin.

New colors in peonies, such as coral and salmon, and versatile flower forms, from petal-packed "bombs" to single-petaled flowers with huge swirly centers, offer flower fans beauty in both the garden and vase."Peonies offer structure and fragrance in gardens and the landscape," Roy says. And they are favorites in the Midwest, where cold winters and hot summers suit these showy perennials.

Pictured: Mix different flower forms of similar colors to create a textural bouquet. A sweet trio (from left): white 'Over Easy', green-tinted 'Green Halo' and kiss-of-pink 'Serene Pastel'.

2 of 10

3 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Growing tips

Growing tips

For long-lasting blooms, follow these tips from Sarah Rummery, horticulturist at Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa.

Site in the sun "Plan ahead when you plant your peonies," Sarah says. "Don't place them near trees that will grow tall and shade them."

Plant in well-drained soil "Peonies don't like wet feet," Sarah says.

Don't relocate "Peonies detest being transplanted," she says. Six- to 7-foot-long roots make moving them difficult.

Feed them well Fertilize peonies once a year. The ideal time? "In the spring while they are actively growing," Sarah says.

Cut back foliage When foliage turns brown (after a hard frost), cut it to the ground.

Stake tall varieties Add peony rings or guards to support tall varieties that flop.

Ignore ants Ants sip the nectar on peony buds, but they don't harm the plant. Shake them off when you cut the flowers.

3 of 10

Advertisement

4 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Midwest peony picks

Midwest peony picks

This and the next four photos show easy-to-find peony varieties that grow exceptionally well in the Midwest. (Typically, peonies grow in Zones 3 to 8.)

'Coral Charm' (pictured) is an early-blooming, semidouble peony—a showstopper in the garden and a great cut flower. Dark coral buds open to sweetly scented cupped coral-peach blossoms. It's also an American Peony Society Gold Medal recipient.

4 of 10

5 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Top peonies: 'Serene Pastel'

Top peonies: 'Serene Pastel'

The soft, light salmon petals of 'Serene Pastel' are blushed with pink. As the flower ages, it fades to white with pink highlights. The variety is noted for its fragrance.

5 of 10

6 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Top peonies: 'Do Tell'

Top peonies: 'Do Tell'

Sweet pink outer petals surround a frilly center of rose, pink and white on 'Do Tell' flowers. This Japanese peony is a consistent performer from North to South--and, of course, the Midwest. It's an American Peony Society Gold Medal recipient.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Top peonies: 'Lois E. Klehm'

Top peonies: 'Lois E. Klehm'

Exotic pink and gold petals surround a center of pink petaloids on this semidouble peony. 'Lois E. Klehm' boasts strong stems and a pleasing fragrance. It blooms midseason.

7 of 10

8 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Top peonies: 'Ivory Escort'

Top peonies: 'Ivory Escort'

A top garden performer, this tousled flower offers semidouble to double ivory-white petals kissed with candy red streaking against deep-green foliage.

8 of 10

9 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Showing off your peonies

Showing off your peonies

For a brilliant bouquet, group an array of peonies in a low bowl (clockwise from top): soft pink 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt', a pair of 'Green Halo' blooms, pink-and-gold 'Lois E. Klehm', petite 'Ivory Escort' and twin 'Pink Kisses'.

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Peony punch

Peony punch

Double peonies, with multiple rows of petals, pack extra petal punch. One light pink 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt' and one magenta 'Diana Parks' fill a vase.

Tips for longer-lasting cut peonies:

* Cut peonies in the morning or evening when it's cooler.

* Cut flowers that have just started to bloom.

* Trim about an inch off the bottom of the stem, slicing at an angle to expose more stem to water.

* Remove leaves that will be under water when the peony is in a vase.

* Keep peonies out of direct sunlight.

* Replace the water every two to three days.

* Midwest buying sources for peonies include Gilbert H. Wild and Son, Reeds, Missouri  gilberthwild.com

10 of 10

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 10 Peony beauty
    2 of 10 Why peonies?
    3 of 10 Growing tips
    4 of 10 Midwest peony picks
    5 of 10 Top peonies: 'Serene Pastel'
    6 of 10 Top peonies: 'Do Tell'
    7 of 10 Top peonies: 'Lois E. Klehm'
    8 of 10 Top peonies: 'Ivory Escort'
    9 of 10 Showing off your peonies
    10 of 10 Peony punch

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Midwest Living

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Contact Us
    • Help
    • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Renew this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Affiliate Program
    • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
    • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
    • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
    • Video
    • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithMidwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Midwest Living. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

    Sign in

    View image

    Peony Passion
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.