How Long Do Peonies Bloom And Can You Store Them? YES!

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This is the first year my peony bushes gave me a plethora of blooms. The peony bushes are three years old.

After getting buds I went crazy trying to research how to care for peony blooms trying desperately to figure out when do peonies bloom. I planted them for cut flowers, not for a garden look.

After experimenting with this for the past few months, I’m sharing with you some great tips that have worked for me, along with a giant “oopsies” to help you avoid making the same mistake!

How to grow peony bushes

How Long Do Peonies Bloom? — What My Research Told Me

When do peonies bloom and how long do peonies bloom? Those were my top questions when I started this little endeavor.

Peonies only bloom once a year. You get one shot at this. In Georgia we get our blooms in late March/early April depending on climate.

For us they bloom once spring is on it’s cusp. Once they bloom they stay in shrub form until it’s time for them to either be cut back or die back on their own (we have the latter version.)

The following year they will regrow from the ground up again and start over.

It will take time and persistence but you can quickly learn year to year how long do peony blooms last getting the most out of your beautiful flowers!

When to cut back peonies after blooming.
Peony bushes in full sun in Atlanta.

How To I Know When It’s Time to Cut Peonies for Arrangements

This is where I made my giant oopsies. I cut many blooms much too early. When knowing how to cut peonies, you need to look for:

  1. The green outer leaf to be open revealing the colorful petals inside.
  2. Softness of the bloom. Squeeze it – if it’s hard as a rock it’s not ready yet. Wait until it’s a bit squishy. Some people say they should feel like marshmallows, but I’ve found that even if a little tougher than that level of softness they bloom beautifully.
  3. If it’s a fully green ball it’s nowhere near ready to cut.
  4. If it’s started to open then by all means, cut it! It will finish blooming in your arrangement!

Dark pink peony blooms in flower arrangement.

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Example of When NOT to Cut a Peony Bloom. This Was My Major Oopsies

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What not to do with peonies.

Example of Peony Bud Ready to be Cut (or Preferably a Tiny Bit Larger Than This!)

Growing peony bushes.

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The Peonies are Ready to be Cut, Now How do We Cut Them?

Always cut on the diagonal. Don’t cut midway through a stem. Cut just above where another stem is forming.

I like to cut mine 2/3 down the length of the stem to give me enough playroom for how I’ll arrange them.

Keep a bucket of warm water nearby to place them in. Nearly all flowers like warm, tepid water, not cold.

If you haven’t read my blog post on keeping cut hydrangea alive longer, please do because water temperature is very important for lasting hydrangea!

Where to cut peony
How to cut peonies.

Helpful Gardening Shears for Cutting Your Peonies

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How to cut peony flowers and what not to do.

Important: all of the above photos of cut peonies show how I cut 90% of them too early!

This is why it’s SO important to understand how long peony blooms last. You don’t want to make the same mistake I did by cutting them too early.

You can still have a pretty result, but it won’t bloom at it’s best for your arrangements.

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When to cut peonies.

Learn from my mistakes! Can you look and see which ones I should have left to bloom more? Ugh. Lesson learned!

Is it Possible to Preserve Peonies?

Yes! This has been my most favorite discovery! After watching this Martha Stewart video I was so intrigued so I began experimenting for four weeks with this. It works!

How to store peonies. Keeping peony blooms for flower arrangements.

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Keeping peonies in the refrigerator and tips to keep peonies alive longer.

My Strategy for Cutting Peonies to Use Later

  1. Cut the peonies at the right time as described earlier, just as they are beginning to bloom.
  2. Do not cut them when they are wet – I found it best to cut at sunset on a dry day. Wipe away any ants on them (don’t worry about ants – they won’t hurt your peonies. Please don’t kill them off – let nature do it’s thing!)
  3. Group blooms in vases with a little bit of water and put in your refrigerator.
  4. Pull out blooms as desired for arrangements, cutting them for the vase, giving them some warm water and watch them open up!
  5. The Martha video says you can store these for up to six months!
  6. Mine have been in my refrigerator like this for nearly 5 weeks and I’ve been pulling them out a little at a time to keep fresh blooms around our home!
Storing peonies to bloom at a later date. Everything you need to know about how to keep peonies for months in your refrigerator.
When do peonies bloom and how to cut them.

When is it Time to Cut Peonies for Arrangements?

After pulling your peonies out of the refrigerator it will take around 2 days for them to fully bloom.

So if you’re having guests over, create your arrangement, put them in tepid water and give them a few days in a warm room to begin to open.

The blooms should stay beautiful at least 5-7 days! I find that a little peonies go a long way.

I’ve been using groupings of three to have small, pretty fresh floral arrangements scattered throughout our home.

Pink Peonies bouquet in home of bluegraygal lifestyle blogger, Kelly Page.
When to cut peony blooms and tricks for growing peonies.
Soft pink peony petals.

This is an arrangement that’s transforming from fresh out of the refrigerator to slowly opening. Beautiful!

Soft pink peony blooms in Waterford Vase. How to cut peony blooms.

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Silk Peony afloral

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Pink Peonies bouquet in home of bluegraygal lifestyle blogger, Kelly Page.

What is the Next Step in Your Peony Growing Journey?

Now that I know when do peonies bloom, next year I’ll have learned from my mistake and won’t cut my blooms too early.

I had over six dozen cut flowers, and most of them are unusable. Giant mistake!

If you’re careful about when you cut, you can preserve them in your refrigerator for several months and extend the life of these gorgeous flowers for arrangements around your home!

They also make a lovely gift for a teacher for host!

Also, if you see peony blooms on sale at a grocery store, snag them! Put them in your refrigerator to save! These gorgeous beauties only bless us once a year so capitalize on them!

If you have any tips, please share! These are new flowers for me and would love to hear any insights you have!

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3 Comments

  1. Wow Kelly! I have never had success with peonies in GA. I have found three years is the magic number for plants to really show off and thrive. What I’d like to know is, how many plants gave you that many blooms? Where do you have them planted? Are they protected? Do you cover them for frost warnings? Do the bunnies like them? Thanks! Shannon

    Reply

    1. Hi Shannon: I’m up here in southern Ontario. We can sometimes have very mild Winters with very little snow (wore my boots twice one particular Winter) and have hot, humid Summers ranging from say, 87F to 93F. This past Summer was very uncomfortable with a few days reaching 100F. I had a gorgeous bed of peonies at my last house (now in a condo); I never covered them and rabbits leave them alone. In the Fall, the rule of thumb is … when the stalks have turned brownish and look half dead, cut the stalks down to about 4” and leave them alone, no Winter covering, it’s not necessary. They come up every Spring, healthy and ready to bloom again. If you forget to cut them back in the Fall, it doesn’t seem to matter. I forgot a few times and still had masses of beautiful blooms. I hope this helps answer your question.

      Reply

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