Support Your Peonies To Prevent Breakage To The Stems And Damage In Winds
Elizabeth is a Permaculture Garden Designer, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Writer, working as an advocate for positive change. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews with an MA in English and Philosophy and obtained a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design from the Permaculture Association.
Reviewed By COLIN SKELLY
Colin is a Horticulturist and Horticultural Consultant with experience in a range of practical and managerial roles across heritage, commercial and public horticulture. He holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture award and has a particular interest in horticultural ecology and naturalistic planting for habitat and climate resilience.
IN THIS GUIDE
Peonies come in a range of different sizes and colours.
Many have tall stems and large flower heads, so you may be wondering whether or not you need to install supports for the peonies you have chosen.
Do Peonies Need Support?
Many peonies will benefit from some kind of support, to prevent breakage to the stems and damage in winds or heavy rains.
Herbaceous peonies usually require some kind of support, while intersectional and shrub-like tree peonies can often manage without it.
Supports may not always be essential, and you may be able to get away without them if you are growing shorter cultivars or are growing them in a particularly sheltered spot.
However, using supports of some kind for herbaceous peonies can potentially help you avoid disappointment later in the growing season, and prolong the duration for which you can enjoy the beautiful peony blooms.
Support Options To Consider
There are plenty of different options when it comes to choosing support for your peonies.
Remember, you do not necessarily have to rush out and buy something new for this gardening job.
The most sustainable and eco-friendly solutions are those using natural or reclaimed materials, which you may already have lying around.
Below are some of the support types which can work well for peonies in many gardens.
1) Staking
The traditional way to support peonies is simply to use a stake to support each stem.
Stakes might be made from a range of different materials, from bamboo to natural branches from your garden, to reclaimed lengths of wood, metal or other materials.
The problem with staking is that you may need rather a lot of them to support all the stems in larger clumps, or where a large number of peonies are grown.
You might also consider creating rings or lines of stakes around a clump, or several peony clumps, with natural twine or other strings between them.
2) Plant Support Hoops
Another way to support peonies is with plant support hoops, which completely encircle a peony clump and provide it with some support.
Grid-type hoop supports can be better than open hoops because they provide support not just for the whole clump, but for individual stems.
You can make your own hoop supports from reclaimed materials such as old fencing, or purchase one of the many more decorative and attractive options on the market.
3) Fluted Cage Peony Supports
One popular type of encircling support structure for peonies are cage supports which are not cylindrical in shape, but taper from the base out to a wider circumference at the top.
These fluted supports allow peony clumps to develop and sit more naturally, catering to their growth and form.
These can look very attractive when placed around peonies in mixed beds and borders in a cottage garden or other similar styles of space.
“The key with plant supports is to ensure that they do not distract from the flowers themselves,” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly.
“When first installed, they will be noticeable and if they are attractive, all the better, but ideally the plant should grow into the structure and be barely noticeable by flowering time.
“Natural materials like stakes and string or materials like corten steel tend are my go-to materials for unobtrusive but effective supports.”
With some imagination and ingenuity, you can find plenty of solutions to protect your peonies which not only stop them from falling over but also look great in your garden.
