Growing & Caring for Hybrid Peony Plants
Large, often single and cupped, the flowers come in a glorious array of colours ranging from bright poppy red to stunning lipstick pink and coral, softest pink to purest white. They are hardy, don’t suffer from any diseases, easy to grow and long lived. Add to this beautiful leaves and neat growth, and Hybrid peonies are the amongst the most stunning late spring blooming plants.
Peony 'Buckeye Belle', P. 'Soft Dream', P. 'Coral Charm', P. 'Nosegay'
What Are Hybrid Peonies?
Hybrid peonies are a type of herbaceous perennial peony, where species were crossed to create a particularly hardy hybrid. The leaves are often large, bright green and glossy. The flowers are usually carried on strong, thick stems, which means the blooms will not fall over.
During the 1920’s Professor Saunders, working in New York, began crossing different species of peonies which grew in the wild from the Mediterranean, up through Turkey, Iran into Russia and across from northern India into China and down into Japan.
The resulting Hybrids carry the best characteristics of their wild relatives; they are hardy, early to flower and have fabulous foliage. The flowers are almost always single and the leaves beautiful. The colour range of the flowers is broader than that of the Lactiflora type of herbaceous perennial peony, which is limited to white, red and pink. Hybrid peonies flowers can vary from a particularly dark red peony through to palest pink peony and pure white. There’s even creamy yellow through to coral and apricot peony flower varieties.
Peony 'Athena', P. 'Early Windflower', P. 'Cytherea', P, 'America'
Growing Hybrid Peonies
You can buy hybrid peony plants from specialist nurseries, as common garden centers prefer to stock Lactiflora varieties. They will be delivered with their roots bare, which is planted with the eyes (red areas on the root that will grow into stems) no more than 5cm. Read my guide on planting bare root peonies if you require more information.
Peony 'Honor', P. 'Roselette', P. 'Eliza Lundy', P, 'Moonrise'
Where to Grow Hybrid Peonies
Like all peonies, once established they live for many years without any attention and cope well with dry soils. They do not like a soil that stays wet throughout the year. They prefer to be grown in full sun, but in warmer counties they they are happy in a little shade.
Hybrid Peony plants can be slotted into any border and sit neatly amongst other herbaceous perennials. By choosing a few different varieties of red, yellow and pink peony plants they will provide vibrant colour from late-May (in the middle of England) until the end of June.
Caring for Hybrid Peonies
Peonies grow according to light (unlike irises which grow according to heat). So as soon as the days begin to get longer, then peonies begin to grow.I rarely fertilise my hybrid peony plants but if you do, never use fresh manure as that can cause them to rot. If this sits too near to the peony stems, it will cause them to rot. A general-purpose granular fertiliser applied according to the instructions is less likey to cause issues.
Pruning & Tidying
It is important to remove older stems and flowers once the plant starts looking tatty to help keep it disease free. All peonies can be lifted, divided and planted from the time they become dormant – usually October until the shoots begin to seriously push up around late February into March. All these times depend on where you live.
What Plants do Hybrid Peonies go Well With?
In all honesty, it’s a herbaceous perennial that can hold a garden border on their own, usually in a mix of red and pink peonies, or coral and apricot yellow. I would recommend adding some complimentary colours or vertical flowers that add height, such as alliums and irises.
