Wednesday, February 17, 2016

2016 Peonies with Early Dormancy Foliage

Here in the South, it gets colder much later in the year. So peonies generally have a much longer growing season here than they do in the North. Many peonies will hold their foliage through October and into November. However, some peonies' foliage does go into early dormancy, dying back much earlier than most other peonies. This is a list of peonies whose foliage dried up, turned brown, and died back by the end of September. These are the peonies I cut back on October 1st because their foliage was already brown. Don't worry - this is normal. Some peonies just die back earlier than others. Often many coral colored peonies have this genetic trait, as well as many early blooming peonies. This is definitely not a complete list, just the ones I happened to notice this year. This list may be helpful for home gardeners who are worried about their plant, or who want to plan their garden space so that another plant will brighten the area, or perhaps they want to use their peonies for landscaping purposes and want to make sure the peonies' foliage is going to stick around as long as possible. (These plants would not be good for long lasting landscape foliage.) However, they would be great to pair with fall blooming plants that need room to grow and flower in the fall!


Peony 'Lemon Chiffon'
Dying Back Earlier Than Other Peony Varieties


Peonies with Early Dormancy Foliage
Ann Berry Cousins
Athena
Carina
Coral Charm
Coral Fay
Coral Sunset
Cytherea
Early Fernleaf
Early Scout
Flame
Grace Root
Great Lady
Henry Bockstoce
Lemon Chiffon
Ludovica
Lustrous
Many Happy Returns
Moonrise
Nosegay
Paladin
Rose Garland
Skylark
Sunshine

So if you have one of these peonies that starts to look brown in late summer, don't worry! It's okay. It is just going dormant a little earlier than the rest of its friends. It's just taking a rest and will be back to greet you again next spring!

Peony with Early Dormancy Foliage

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