Peony advice, please!

[LakieLady]

I have a Sarah Bernhardt that has, tbf, been neglected for some years, and is now looking very sad.

It did well for the first few years and then, for various reasons, I was scarcely here for a few years. In that time a corkscrew hazel went straight and got too big, so that the peony wasn't really getting enough sun. Last year, it looked really quite etiolated and didn't flower at all. I cut it back around November. The hazel has now been chopped down, so it will have sun all day from around 8-9 am.

Around 3 weeks ago, it sprouted but still only has 3 stems, about 1", but growing. Two are about 2-3 inches apart, but the third is a good 4"-6" from the other two. I gave it some slow release fertiliser pellets a couple of weeks ago, but it seems really slow to get going.

Is it likely to sprout some more, or do you wise ones think that might be it? And is there anything I can do to encourage it to get bushier and produce more flowers, eg pinching out? Top dress with some rotted horse manure and let the worms take it down to the roots?

It's around 12-15 years old and it crossed my mind that it might simply be past it and need to be replaced, but MIL swears that some of her peonies are getting on for 30 years old.

I planted a Bowl of Beauty peony a couple of weeks ago and that is going berserk: 5 stems and plenty of leaf already, so I think the conditions are generally good for peonies (chalk, free draining, nice loose soil in generally good nick and most other stuff is growing nicely) and we're in the SE so warmer than a lot of the country atm.

Or am I just being impatient (in that respect, I think I am constitutionally unsuited to gardening lol)?

Is it too deep? Maybe over time mulching has buried too far under the soil.
The buds like to be on the top of the soil rather than under it. You can lift and replant them but this should be done in autumn and they can take a few years to resettle and flower again.
Or it could be the soil is depleted of nutrients in which case you need to apply a liquid fertiliser. Mine seem to do well on wilkos liquid seaweed tonic.

It hasn't been mulched. Quite the opposite - the poor thing has been neglected in recent years.

It did well for the first few years, so I'm hoping it'll recover now the tree's gone and it will get a lot more sun. I'll try the liquid seaweed, that sounds like a good tip.

If the tree didn't go until recently, the plant won't have benefitted from last year's sunlight, so it may take until next year to return to its former glory. It may also just be old, and benefit from being divided.

Ah, that sounds feasible, @Zippyzoppy. The shoots that are showing are growing nicely, just not as fast as the new one.

And the dividing thing makes sense. I think I'll leave it, see how it does this year and next, and if it's still sad next year, I'll lift it and divide it. I've just googled how to do it, and it doesn't look that hard.

The mere thought almost makes me feel like a proper gardener, instead of an almost-novice who has to ring mother-in-law every time I need advice (unless my brilliant gardener neighbour happens to be outside).

Although now I've discovered all you lovely knowledgeable people, I don't have to do that so often.

I've got more than one Paeony, and different varieties don't all grow at the same rate, so it may just be the variety that is a bit slower. If your new one is different, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions by comparing them. Also, have you got your supports in place? If not, now is the time to do it!!

The supports are still there from last year for the old peony, but I haven't put any in for the new one yet. It seems silly when the longest stem is only about 5", but I will gratefully follow your advice.

The linkstakes for the old peony look like they're for decorative purposes until you're right up close.

The more I think about it, the more I think you're right about dividing it. When I try and visualise what's going on under the ground, it's like a decent sized root, but only sprouting stems at opposite sides, hence why there's a big gap between the first two and the third.

I didn't know about dividing them, I thought they were best left undisturbed. Shows how little I know!

Conventional wisdom is they're fussy. I have truly abused several of mine which were in the wrong place, i.e. dug, them up at the wrong time of year - and you do lose that year's flowers, but the following year they are part recovered, and then after that perfectly happy. Once you decide to divide, you might as well make as many plants as the root tuber allows.

I planted bog standard peos 14 years ago which were never happy really , it was too deep and there was a tree had grown over them. I took the autumn moving advice, on here, and changed their position, into the sun they are now coming up beautifully, I put some netting over them to save the little buds from the birds.

I do have sandy,chalky soil but I put pine chippings and woodash in the base of the hole. They are happy I'm waiting for warmer weather for the flowers! I'm watering with nettle water.

Thanks, everyone.

I'm delighted to report that Sarah Bernhardt has now sprouted a 4th stem, and the first 3 are now over an inch tall and look quite promising. And I bought some liquid seaweed today, so will give her a feed tomorrow.

I'm not so sure about Bowl of Beauty though. I think she's actually a triffid, she's growing so fast. Her leaves are starting to unfurl a little, too.

Be careful the birds don't get the buds though Lakie It's so sad to see all your hard work removed!

I' m delighted to say that Sarah Bernhardt now has 6 healthy looking shoots and possibly a seventh on the way.

I took @Proudboomer's advice and gave it a feed with liquid seaweed, and about a week later, 2 new shoots appeared. It may have been a coincidence, but I like to think it helped, so thanks @Proudboomer.

Bowl of Beauty seems to have slowed her growth a little and is now unfurling plenty of leaves.

I can't wait to see them both in flower. I'm unfeasibly excited.

Ahh peony experts! My bare root Sarah Bernhardt has just arrived. It has some buds on it. When I plant it, should I cover the whole thing up or leave the buds sticking out?

I planted my Bowl of Beauty exactly as on the instructions, @takeabrollybut I can't now recall what they were.

In other news, Sarah Bernhardt now has 8 shoots. She is making up for lost time.

Peony lovers might enjoy a bit of peony porn. I found this supplier the other day, and fell in love with several, but my god, the prices!

primrosehallpeonies.co.uk/product-category/peonies/herbaceous-peonies/