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Home › Forums › Flower-Garden Questions › Annuals and Perennials › Peony
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Blooming (and this is true for most plants) is controlled by factors like light (are they getting sun, or has a nearby tree or shrub grown and reduced the amount over the years?); and fertilizer (are they getting too much Nitrogen, from lawn fertilizer nearby or overdoses of nasty blue liquids…excess N makes leaves often at the expense of flowers); overcrowding; and the untimely removal of foliage (too soon, before it could nourish the roots below by "ripening" intact on the plant).
With peonies there is also the "too deep" thing–and they really do know if they are buried more than about 2 inches.
There are also (rarer) disease issues, but the above are normally the culprit(s).
I love this fact sheet from Iowa State on peony issues, worth a read:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2006/4-19/peonies.html
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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.
