Peony roots

[~ Lori ~]

Hi all. I just bought some peony roots, with several eyes each, on eBay. These were kept in cold storage and are currently taking up residence in my refrigerator.....more because of ignorance than anything else. ;o) What I wanna know is - can I go ahead and plant these NOW (zone 5) or should I keep them in cold storage and wait until fall? Also....if there is anything I can put in the planting holes (bone meal, cow manure, prayer book etc) to help them along for next spring, I'd like to know about that as well. Thanks! Lori

[David J Bockman]

I would suggest waiting Lori.

Digging a nice deep hole (I do a two foot deep hole when I can) and amending liberally with composted cow manure, bone meal, and dried blood will really get your peonies off to a good start. Rather than mulch, I like to use sand as a top dressing to help reduce the risk of botrytis.

Dave