What is peony? Can I grow peonies in spring?

A flower proverb says, "If you plant peony at the Spring Equinox, it will never bloom again." Peony is praised as "Flower Fairy" and "Flower Appearance", and is listed as one of the "Six Famous Flowers". It is also called "May Flower God". Since ancient times, it has been regarded as a flower of love and is now revered as the representative flower of the Chinese Valentine's Day. Now that spring is full of hope, can peony be planted in spring? Open it to find out.

Contents of this article

1. What is Peony?

2. Can peonies be planted in spring?

3. Growth habits of peony

What is Peony?

Peony is praised as "Flower Fairy" and "Flower Appearance" and is listed as one of the "Six Famous Flowers". It is also called "May Flower God". Since ancient times, it has been regarded as the flower of love and is now revered as the representative flower of the Qixi Festival. When Baoyu celebrated his birthday and Xiangyun drank too much and no one knew where she was, he saw Xiangyun lying on a stone step in a secluded place with rocks, and she was already in a sweet dream. Peonies flew all over her body, and her head, face and clothes were all red and fragrant. The fan fell to the ground and was half buried in the petals. Bees and butterflies flew around her, and she used a handkerchief to wrap the peony petals as a pillow. "This scene was presented in the Meili Daur area. Quietly, it became a landscape in that piece of land...

Can peonies be planted in spring?

It is not easy to transplant in spring. If the buds have grown out and are quite long, then you basically can't grow them alive. In addition, peonies planted in Guangdong cannot bloom because it is warm all year round and lacks low temperature weather, so flower bud differentiation cannot be completed.

Peony propagation is mainly by division. Division propagation has very strict requirements on seasons, and it is best to do it from late September to early October. A flower proverb says, "If you divide peonies at the spring equinox, they will not bloom until they are old." Peony plants that are 3-4 years old can be divided. After digging out the old plants with their roots, put the roots up to the sky, shake off the old soil, and cut them according to the natural trend of the roots, so that the cut parts have 4-5 buds. Cut off some thick roots 5 cm below the buds, and then let them dry for 1-2 days. Plant them after the wounds are dry. The soil should not be buried too deep, and it is best to keep the top of the buds 5 cm below the soil surface. The covering soil should be tamped and watered thoroughly. For sowing propagation, the seeds should be harvested and planted in the same year. The longer the seeds are stored, the lower the germination rate. It takes about 4-5 years from sowing to flowering of the plants by seed propagation. The speed is slow and it is easy to mutate, and most of them are single-petal flowers.

Growth habits of peony

It likes sunlight and is drought-resistant. The phased development changes of peony plants in a year with the change of climate rhythm are mainly manifested in the alternation of growth period and dormancy period. Among them, the vernalization stage of dormancy period and the light stage of growth period are the most critical. The vernalization stage of peony requires about 40 days at a low temperature of 0℃ to complete. Then the mixed buds can germinate and grow. Peony is a long-day plant. The flower buds need to develop and bloom under long days. After the mixed buds germinate, if the light time is insufficient, or under short-day conditions, they usually only grow leaves without blooming or bloom abnormally.