Old-Fashioned Peony Flowers – Jennifer Rizzo

It’s almost peony time and that’s a spring flower I get very excited for! I am blessed to have one of my grandmother’s old-fashioned peony flowers growing in my yard. It gives me some beautiful flowers every spring and I can’t help picking some and putting them in my house for a bit of color. As an heirloom variety they smell amazing. I love how they fill the room with color and fragrance! They are fairly low maintenance to grow, and don’t need much care.

Peonies are easy to grow, come in lots of colors, and thrive in zones 3-8

As well as shades of pinks colors, the petals come in whites, gorgeous corals and even yellow flowers on strong stems. Perennials that bloom April-June late spring into early summer, they are always a treat. Some varieties of peonies  have very little scent while some older ones have a wonderful fragrance. For as wonderful as they smell, they are actually somewhat deer resistant because of there tough and leathery leaves.

Peony Flowers Require some simple things to grow:

6-8 hours of direct sunlight  a day

Good air circulation (this is where peony stakes can come in handy)

Slightly moist well-drained soil

Don’t plant them too deeply, they root in the upper 1-3 inches of soil

Every year the flowers seem to get bigger and more abundant than the year before. A peony bush can double over time and be the peony roots can be divided to be transplanted other places. As long as they get plenty of sun and plenty of moisture (and a little compost), they’ll keep growing. Peonies can come in single petals but also semi-double flowers.

I have this vintage ironstone sop server that’s missing the lid. I love using it for big blooms and I use it for lots of mixed flower arrangements.  It’s like a bowl of beauty with the peony flowers arranged in it. The things about vintage peonies is that the aroma is incredible. They have the old school fragrance that is hard to replicate and so fleeting. I love that they can be picked at the “marshmallow stage” (in other words, when you squeeze the bud and it feels like a marshmallow they can be cut.) and they seem to last a little longer in a vase which is nice since they have such a short bloom time. I think they are pretty in that stage as when they are open as well. When I place them in a vase, I strip off any of the green foliage that would sit below the waterline.

 I also put some in few a vintage milk bottles on my kitchen window sill. They are so cheerful as they sit on their sturdy stems. While they don’t have a lot of pests or insects, of course ants love their nectar. Giving them a good shake after cutting but before bringing them in will help keep the ants outside where they belong.

They make everything so cheerful!

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