How To Move & Divide Peonies

Peonies are perfect for busy people. Once planted, they require almost no attention. Long-lived and extremely beautiful when in flower, even the foliage is handsome. However, there might be a time when they might need moving or dividing.

Despite the gardening myth that you cannot divide peonies or move them, we replant our crop of peonies every few years. This prevents the plants becoming too large, as this makes them difficult to lift, even as a bare root peony.

Is it Necessary to Divide Peonies?

You don’t need to divide peonies on a regular basis. This is not something the home gardener needs to worry about, but it can be useful in some circumstances. Your peony can be lifted and divided for any reason, including:

• If your peony is too big for the spot it is currently in
• If you want to gift someone a bare root peony piece
• If you are moving and don’t want to leave your precious plant behind

Granted it might take three years or so to settle down properly, but depending on the size of the division it is possible to have flowers the following season
 

What is the Best Time to Divide Peonies?

Moving and dividing peonies should be done in autumn once the leaves have died back. This can be any time from October to February. If this is outside your timeframe, it may be best to buy peony plants instead, as poorly made divisions will struggle to re-establish themselves and will certainly fail to flower the next year.

How To Divide A Peony

Firstly, dig the bare root out of the ground. Depending on its age, you might need a fork or a spade. We often use a mini-digger for the ones we grow for the peony shop! It is likely that you will not get all the plant out of the ground. It does not matter if the thick roots snap in half as it won’t hurt the plant, but try to lift as much of it out of the ground as possible. You will find that peonies with bulbous roots, such as Paeonia officinalis types will regrow if some root is left in the ground. This can be a blessing or a curse!

Cutting The Plant Up

Once it is out of the ground, blast it with water from a hose pipe to clear away the soil. This is how you make a bare root peony, and it will help you find the pink ‘eyes’, or leaf buds. The eyes are next year's leaf shoots, and this is where you need to aim for when splitting the plant apart. Each division should have at least 3 eyes for it to stand a chance of flowering next year. The bigger the plant the better, so try for 5 to 8 eyes.

Take a good look at your lifted plant. Starting from the eyes and seek out the ones with most root attached. It is easy to slice away and end up with eyes and no roots. Using a large, sturdy knife or a pair of secateurs, insert the tip of the blade around the top of the plant and carefully slice downwards. With luck and a bit of practice, you will be able to divide the plant into some nice pieces ready for planting.

How to Move a Bare Root Peony

Divided or not, peonies are tolerant plants. As long as a few rules are followed they are easy to grow and once established will live for many years with little attention.

Where To Grow Peonies

Hardy peonies are quite tolerant of soil types but should be grown in a reasonably rich, well-drained soil. Do not plant them in wet soil, or they will rot. If your soil is poor, it helps to dig in some VERY well rotted compost. Garden compost that is not fully broken down can also cause a peony to rot. They also prefer a position in full sun, but I have a peony ‘Shirley Temple’ that thrives in part shade, so this rule can be broken.

How To Plant Peonies

If you dug up and divided your plant correctly, you should have a bare root peony plant (or two) with at least 3 eyes on the root. Your next step is to dig a hole wide enough and deep enough to accommodate the roots of the peony. Place the plant in the hole – following the rule below – and cover with soil.

The Important Rule

Herbaceous peonies – the ones that die right back in autumn – should be planted with the eyes no more than 3cm (1 inch) below the soil surface. Despite also producing short woody stems, this rule also applies to Intersectional peonies. 

If you are planting tree or woody peonies (such as P. delavayii) the eyes should be at least 7cm (3 inches) below the soil surface. If they are planted at the wrong depth, they may fail to bloom or at the very least take years to flower. At that point, you may be better off getting another peony root from our online plant shop and try again.