Peonies in landscape design - a real extravaganza of spring colors

Peonies are valued by gardeners for their ease of care, ease of frequent replanting, and luxurious beauty. From early spring to autumn, plants retain a decorative appearance: as soon as the snow melts, ruby ​​shoots emerge from the ground, then the turn of openwork foliage begins, at the end of May lush fragrant flowers bloom, and by autumn the majestic bushes are painted in crimson tones.

Skirts of inflorescences delight with fireworks of color shades: from soft pastel to flashy red. Diverse peonies in landscape design they will decorate the spring garden if you follow the rules of planting and simple care. When choosing a place for planting, it is worth considering that the plant grows spreading and reaches a height of 60-80 cm, so other perennials are planted at a distance from the handsome peony.

Content:

• Technological techniques for planting peonies
• Reproduction: rules and recommendations
• Care measures
• Compositions with peonies

Technological techniques for planting peonies

For a keen gardener, it will not be difficult to grow an unpretentious peony on the plot. Follow the rules for preparing the soil and choose a suitable location, following generally accepted technology.

Choosing a place for the sun's pet

A peony will grow in one area for decades without requiring replanting. Although if the place is chosen poorly, then you won’t get flowering. The plant does not tolerate crowding; in addition, avoid planting it near the walls of buildings and fences.A sunny open area, preferably on flat ground, is suitable for the culture.

Flowering depends on the amount of sunlight peony. In the shade, the stems will become thin and elongated, and the peduncles will break under the weight of the flowers. It is important to take into account the location of groundwater: if they come close to the surface, the plant will rot and die.

Correct placement of the planting hole is the key to flowering

The crop will not grow in poor soils; give preference to light loam with drainage. Start preparing the site 2 weeks in advance so that the substrate is compacted and there are no air voids left. On light soils you need a hole 50 cm deep, on clay soils - 60 cm, with a diameter of 60 by 70 cm.

When digging a hole, the upper layer of soil is set aside in order to fix the young plant later. Take care of the drainage layer at the bottom: lay a layer of gravel or broken bricks. This way the peony roots will not rot in rainy summers. The next layer for laying in the planting hole consists of fertilizers:

• 6 kg of rotted manure
• 300 g wood ash
• 100 g potassium sulfate
• 100 g double superphosphate

If the soil the area is acidic, add an additional liter jar of lime mixture (1 kg of lime per bucket of water).

Reproduction: rules and recommendations

Herbaceous peonies are propagated by dividing the bush and germinating cuttings; less often, cuttings are rooted. In gardening, seed propagation is not practiced, because varietal characteristics are not transmitted from the mother plant, and you will have to wait 7 years for the first buds after sowing the seeds.

Division of rhizomes

The method involves dividing an overgrown peony, no more than 8 years old. Carefully dig up the bush with a shovel and remove it from the ground.Use a watering can to wash off the earthen lump from the rhizome and leave it to dry for 4 hours in a ventilated, bright room. Using a peg, the bush is divided into two parts, which are divided into divisions with several young buds.

By layering

Suitable for reproduction 6 year old bushes. As soon as the buds begin to bloom in April, vertical layering is done. The bush is carefully looked after throughout the growing season: fed, mulched, and often watered. As a rule, at the end of summer, young roots will appear on the cuttings.

The time has come to separate the shoot with roots and plant it in a mini-greenhouse. Before winter, fragile peonies are covered with spruce branches or peat. Transplanted to a permanent place after 2 years.

By cuttings

Since the end of May, rare varieties of peonies that have reached the age of 4 years have been cuttings. From a bush, 15 cuttings are cut, which are soaked for 8 hours in a Heteroauxin solution. For rooting, plant in a nursery.

Important! A delenka is a standard piece of rhizome with 3 roots and 5 buds. A peony grown from such a cutting blooms profusely in the third year. Parts of the root with fewer buds are grown in the school.

When to replant peonies

Plants are replanted at the border between summer and autumn, but if it was not possible to do transfer At this time, it is worth waiting for early spring. The end of August is the most favorable for manipulating rhizomes.

How to decorate a garden with peonies:

Before frost, the peony has time to take root and as soon as the snow melts in the spring, it will begin to actively grow to please you with flowers in the summer. Important! If there is an urgent need, the bushes are replanted in the spring, but this is fraught with diseases and weak peony flowering.

Care measures

With proper care, peony bushes will turn into the highlight of the site, so it is worth spending time on easy plant care activities. In spring, water not often, but abundantly: 2-3 buckets of water are poured under each bush to moisten the ground to the root location. Peonies need abundant watering in early spring, during flowering and budding periods.

Mulching with rotted horse manure in early spring has a beneficial effect on peony. Already in the next growing season the plant will delight you with abundant flowering.

Fertilizing with nitrogen and potassium is carried out with the beginning of the appearance of the first shoots. In early spring, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are used, and in the fall, nitrogen fertilizers are preferred. Care in the summer consists of timely watering, weeding, loosening and fertilizing after flowering.

In September, the bushes begin to lay flower buds, so it is worth taking time to water, loosen and remove weeds. In autumn, withered leaves and stems are cut off and burned to prevent the spread of viruses and pests in the area. Ash is poured onto the remains of peony stems at the rate of 3 handfuls per bush.

Compositions with peonies

Peony bushes in landscape design are used in groups, prefabricated compositions and as tapeworms. To highlight the beauty of the flowers, plant them with yellow daylilies, blue sage, honeysuckle bushes, bearded irises, poppies and bluebells.

Garden paths are decorated with peony bushes framed by primroses: tulips, daffodils, crocuses, reticulated irises. In a Japanese stone flowerbed, plant thin-leaved and Crimean peonies to emphasize the severity of the stone composition.

Care looking for peonies will not be difficult even for a beginner.Following simple rules will result in luxurious bushes with heavy glasses of fragrant flowers!