What is happening to my peonies? Help!

Hello all. We are newbies to gardening, and our home has an East facing garden built on an old quarry in the Midlands (England). They say the soil is clay, whatever that means.

We've decided to begin our adventures by container gardening, and I immediately purchased peonies from the local garden shop. They remained in their original container for a month or so before we replanted to the larger container in our garden. Whilst in their original container I noticed one of the plants' leaves were slightly browning at the edges. Assuming they were potbound, we hoped that moving to a larger container would help.

Unfortunately, it has not helped and now both peony plants are browning. I've attached a few photos of both plants. The plant with browner leaves is the first one that had a problem whilst in the original container. Now I am disappointed that the second plant appears to be suffering as well.

Does anyone know what this is? I read about peony wilt, but the pictures I found online don't appear to look like the same problem. Any idea if there is anything I can do to fix this?

 

Welcome to the forum!

I only have peonies in the garden so I can't advise regarding pot grown ones but I am sure so eone will come along shortly with a helpful suggestion.

 

Hiya stamfordblooms ...welcome to the forum.
No, not wilt. For me there is nothing sinister going on either

A couple of points though. Dont overwater....looks like your compost is wet? Keep compost dry to moist, not wet; foliage will be dying down in the autumn so water even less. Also don't plant too deep. Peonies need to be in the sun and their top roots/rhizomes exposed to the sun so try not to put plants in that will crowd your peony. Peonies' foliage often tends to look tatty after flowering too.

So, place your pot in the sun. Use a john innes compost....multi purpose compost is not really suitable in my opinion. In spring when new growth starts apply a light granular fertiliser and a light mulch but avoid going too near the crown

I prefer to grow plants like peopnies in the ground but the principles are the same for container growing.

There are folks who do a lot of container growing so hopefully one or two will offer their advice

 

Good evening @stamfordblooms and welcome to Gardener's Corner.

A couple of queries:-
* when did you buy them
* when did you pot them on
* what did you pot them on into (compost wise)
* what size pot did you choose for them?

I have a peony, which I potted up from a piece, which has been growing in my garden since goodness knows when! I potted it up last year. Much earlier this year, I bought a couple of peony roots from an el cheapo shop and potted them up into a container with a mixed compost/grit mixture.

I have to say that neither groups have flowered this year and now, as I would expect at this time of year, the leaves are tinged a maroon/brown colour. The colouring is what I would expect at this time of year anyway. It is coming into Autumn and the plants will die back as part of their natural life cycle. So, on that score, please do not be too alarmed. The discolouration is quite normal.

The "trick" with peonies is not to plant them too deep - whether they are ground grown, or, container grown.

Much depends upon how "old" your peony samples are. My "original" peony piece has now had two years of transplant "nurturing" and still has not flowered; but, in keeping with the seasons, it is turning its Autumnal colour (yes, in a container). My purchased peonies are equally turning a seasonal colour (yes, in containers), nor did they flower this year either.

I would suggest that the peonies are in a too highly competitive environment i.e. having too many plants competing with one another all in the same pot. A peony deserves the chance to thrive in a pot of its own, at the very least. The compost you use is quite subjective but as a perennial, a John Innes #3 would be the most likely to give a good result.

Peonies do not like to be "disturbed" - by that it means they like to be put to bed and very much left alone! Re-potting, while it might be a necessary evil, can be a backward step, but not necessarily a death knoll! It simply means, if it doesn't give up on *you*, you should be patient and not give up on *it*! It also means that, as you have a lot of plants in the same pot, do not move the peony from the pot ... just move all the other plants from the pot!

In a nutshell, peonies are not evergreens and their leaves will turn colour in Autumn and will die back. If not planted too deeply (or crammed in with other plants) you can look forward to seeing them re-appear next Spring. They may not flower for a year or two, but feed and water them adequately for their needs and they will (eventually) reward you with glorious, if short lived, blooms to delight in!

I do hope this post is of some help in your understanding of container peonies. I have only offered my personal experience as I am no expert, nor profess to be.

Good luck! I do not think they are "dying" so much as "dying back for Autumn".