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Do peonies need anything special done for them in regards to prepping them for winter?
I'm doing some yard work for a woman a few towns over. She has a small peonies bush in her yard. The leaves, flowers and stalks are dead. She was wondering if they grow again on their own come spring or if the remainder of the plant (roots, dead branches/leaves/flowers) need to be removed.
Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks!
EDIT: Also, she hasn't asked yet, but if she does, is it safe/okay to put mulch around them? She's having me mulch some of her property, also.
Gerri - I'm sorry! It's late here in Ohio, so I guess it wasn't in my thought process!
The peonies will do just fine next year if left alone. However, I think it's a good idea to remove the dead leaves and flower stalks. As one poster pointed out, mildew has been a real problem in a lot of areas this year and removing the dead material will help a bit with that problem next year. And dead plant material can also become a habitat for bugs and other pests like slugs when it's decomposing. That's one reason we have compost piles rather than just pile up the material in the garden around the plants.
You can certainly apply mulch around them but don't cover the plant itself with much more than a couple of inches of mulch. Peonies are pretty picky about how deeply they are planted and if you put a big old layer over the entire plant, Mr. Peonie will think he is planted deeper and won't bloom.
But overall, Peonies are incredibly tough and can go many years without much care other than removing the spent stalks and leaves and a sprinkle of mulch. And you certainly could throw a bit of compost or dehydrated cow manure (sold in garden centers) around the plant and it will reward you with bigger and more blooms.
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