A first cut may be made immediately after flowering
During each vegetation phase from spring to autumn, the peony in the garden goes through a real play of colors: At first the shoot appears with a reddish color before the leaves turn increasingly green. After the conspicuous bloom, the star-shaped fruit capsules form, which gradually turn darker and darker until they burst. Finally, the foliage changes its color again in autumn before it falls off the bush. It is up to you whether you want to intervene in this natural course of the year. If you allow the seeds to develop, you can collect them in autumn and enjoy the decorative look of the fruit capsules. You can also carefully remove dead inflorescences immediately after flowering in order to save the plants a lot of energy for seed formation in their growth household.
also read
- Plant the shrub peony in the garden
- Choosing the perfect location for the shrub peony
- Propagate the bush peony yourself
The main cut: timing and cutting technique
You can encourage the budding of your shrub peonies if you consciously shape them once a year. The best time to do this is in autumn, when the leaves of the bushes are already beginning to fall. You will avoid unsightly stumps if you always place the interfaces directly above an outward-facing bud on the branch. Inward-growing shoots can be cut out in order to ensure a more open and better branched growth of the shrub peony.
Do not use secateurs at all or particularly radically?
When pruning the bush peony you have several options:
- not cut at all
- targeted shape cut
- radical cut back to a height of about 40 to 50 cm
As a rule, a radical pruning is relatively well tolerated by older specimens. This can also be necessary in order to rid a bush peony that has been thriving in the area for a long time from an infestation with the dreaded gray mold.
Tips
Shrub peonies cut for the vase should be freed of their leaves in the lower area and cut again about every two days. Then the flowers can show their most beautiful side in the vase for up to ten days.
