A lovely home garden isn’t complete without the peony, which is Mother Nature’s crown jewel. Peonies are loved by everyone and will give you years of beauty in your garden and home. All it takes is some planning, work, and time.
A garden featuring peonies and roses promises to delight the senses each spring. Their lush, voluptuous flowers and intoxicating fragrance create a beautiful seasonal display. With some planning and care, you can combine these classic flowers to form the backbone of an enchanting landscape. Follow this guide for tips on choosing varieties, proper planting, design layouts, and ongoing care for success growing peonies and roses together.
Selecting the Right Varieties
With hundreds of cultivars it’s important to choose complementary peonies and roses suited to your climate and growing goals
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Bloom time – Pick early, mid and late bloomers to extend color from spring through early summer Pair early peonies with late spring roses
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Color and form – Blend varieties in harmonious hues like soft pinks or crimson reds. Mix loose, open blooms with double flowers for texture.
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Fragrance – Choose intensely fragrant roses and peonies to perfume your garden
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Plant size – Scale larger peony varieties with taller climbing roses. Smaller roses suit compact peonies.
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Hardiness – Ensure all selections are hardy in your zone. Peonies thrive in zone 3 while most roses need zone 5+.
Planting for Healthy Establishment
Follow these tips to give your peonies and roses the best start:
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Sunlight – Provide at least 6 hours of direct sun, with morning light. Dappled afternoon shade can benefit roses.
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Soil prep – Improve planting beds with 2-3 inches of compost to enhance nutrients and drainage.
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Spacing – Allow 3-4 feet between peonies. Place roses 2-3 feet apart depending on mature size.
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Planting depth – Bury peony roots 1-2 inches deep. Any deeper prevents flowering.
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Watering – Water thoroughly after planting and whenever top inch of soil is dry.
Designing a Cohesive Layout
Use these guidelines when planning your garden design:
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Repeat varieties in groups of 3-7 for cohesion. Echo top varieties throughout the garden.
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Use roses as anchors along fences, arbors and edges to take advantage of vertical space.
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Mass peonies towards the middle or along a border. Place taller varieties near the back.
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Include companion plants that coordinate in color, texture and bloom time around the peonies and roses.
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Add evergreen structure with hedges, trees or shrubs for year-round interest.
Combining in Garden Beds
Here’s how to blend peonies and roses into key areas:
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Formal rose garden – Outline geometric beds with roses on an arbor underplanted with peonies.
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Cottage garden – Mingling roses, peonies, foxgloves, iris and other perennials together informally.
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Herb garden – Tuck fragrant roses and peonies among herbs like lavender, catmint and sage.
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Shrub border – Incorporate with peonies, roses, grasses and flowering shrubs along a fence or property line.
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Containers – Plant compact patio roses and dwarf peonies together in patio pots or courtyard gardens.
Ongoing Care and Maintenance
Follow these tips for healthy, thriving peonies and roses:
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Water 1-2 inches weekly during the growing season, adjusting for rainfall. Established plants need deep weekly soakings.
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Fertilize in early spring as growth starts and again 6-8 weeks later using a balanced flower fertilizer.
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Topdress annually with 2-3 inches of compost or manure in early spring.
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Monitor for pests/disease and treat issues like powdery mildew promptly.
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Prune roses after blooming; cut back peonies in fall once foliage dies back.
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Protect in winter by mounding soil or mulch over rose crowns in cold climates.
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Stake peonies and climbing rose canes to support heavy blooms and prevent damage.
Inspiring Design Ideas
Here are a few suggested themes that combine peonies and roses beautifully:
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Cottage garden – Blend pastel hues and loose, romantic flowers like foxgloves, catmint, and English roses.
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White garden – Limit the palette to white, green, and cream for a serene look. Include Alba roses.
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Fragrance garden – Focus on the most fragrant peonies and roses for an intoxicating, soothing retreat.
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Rose arbor – Frame a seating area with a rose-covered arbor underplanted with peonies and iris.
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Mixed border – Incorporate with ornamental grasses, hydrangea, daisies, and perennials along a fence or property line.
With some planning and care, peonies and roses will thrive and deliver beauty to your garden year after year. Their sumptuous blooms and heady fragrance are the epitome of spring.
Consider Your Garden Site
Peonies can be grown in USDA zones 2–8, but they need a steady winter chill to produce the most flowers. As a general rule, the daily low temperatures in the winter need to be less than 40° F for two months. This information is usually on the plant tag or the product listing, or you can do a quick search on Google to find it. Finding the types that have already been named as the best performers in your area is a good place to start.
You should plant your peony roots in soil that is rich in minerals, has a neutral pH (around 7), and a lot of humus (organic matter). Ensure the planting site has excellent drainage with enough organic matter to keep the soil well aerated. Like most plants that grow in the same conditions, peonies need to be watered regularly. However, they can’t stand water near their roots—as the experts say, “Peonies don’t like wet feet!”
Your peonies will need both good soil drainage and a lot of air flow around the plant because they are very likely to get fungal diseases. If you can help it, don’t plant peonies right up against a building or fence. Make sure there is plenty of space around the plant for air to flow. Keep in mind how large the peony plant will be when it is fully mature and plant accordingly.
Your peony garden will need sunlight at least 6-8 hours everyday, so consider your sunlight pattern. If you live in a hotter area, you should probably put your plants somewhere with some shade during the day. If you’re growing in a cooler climate, your peonies will thrive in ample sunshine. Since it’s mild during the day in Alaska (20–22 hours of daylight), our peonies are grown in full sun with no shade.
There are three types of peonies: itoh, herbaceous, and tree. Which one do you want in your garden? This article is about herbaceous types, which come in a fun range of flower shapes, such as single, semi-double, fully-double, bomb, anemone, and Japanese. People who garden may find it hard to decide which species to grow because there are so many to choose from.
Which peony you want to grow may depend on your budget and the color scheme you want to use. Some rare peonies can cost a lot. One thing we all agree on is that the bloom season should last as long as possible. A normal bloom time for herbaceous peonies last about three weeks. You can make the bloom season last up to six weeks longer in some places by picking early, mid, and late-blooming varieties.
Most of the time, double, semi-double, and bomb peony flowers are very heavy when they are fully opened. This is especially true when it rains and the flowers get soggy. When you give your peonies extra support, they are less likely to fall over or break, which keeps your garden looking beautiful.
Peony rings, which are metal rings with legs that are 12 to 18 inches in diameter, concrete reinforcing wire, which can be bent around the plant to make a cage, and ready-made tomato cages are all common ways to support peony plants. Around the plant, you can also use bamboo stakes or branches and weave twine in between the stakes to make a strong web. Once the plant grows into a full-grown plant, the support structures will usually be hidden by the canopy of leaves.
We really want our peonies to bloom all summer, but it’s not going to happen. Maybe that’s why we love their beauty and scent so much? To make sure our garden is beautiful all season, we plant longer-season companion plants with our peonies to add more wow to the garden when the peonies are done blooming.
Whatever plants you choose, be sure that they like the same growing conditions as your peonies. When adding to your garden, you should think about how much sun it gets, how much air flows through it, how well it drains, and what zones it can grow in.
If you want to add some color to your garden early in the season, spring bulbs like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, or even a group of Siberian or bearded iris are great choices. Always there, perennial plants are like gifts that keep on giving. They come back every year, often bigger and better than before. If you have empty spots in your garden, don’t forget that annuals are great for filling them in. They come in many shapes and sizes, from short, sweet alyssum to tall, spiked Madam Butterfly snap dragons. Make sure to plant companion plants or bulbs in groups of three or more so that they look strong and catch the eye.
No matter what plants you choose to “friend” your peonies, it’s best to include ones that give the garden a lot of different visual textures. To do this, use plants with spiky stems, broad or variegated leaves, and low ground cover that grow at different heights. This is also true for sculptures, ironwork, and creative garden art. A comfortable place to sit and enjoy your hard work will make the garden experience better.
Peony leaves are also pretty all summer, and in the fall, they often turn pretty shades of gold and bronze. Cut the plants back to the ground only in late fall, when they have lost all of their green color.
Most people who garden will cut off all of the buds on first-year peony plants before they form so that the plant can focus on growing roots. Over the years, peony plants will keep giving you a bigger and better show every season. This means that de-budding in the first few years can be seen as an investment in future blooms.
Putting fertilizer on the plant every spring will give it the food it needs to keep getting bigger and blooming more every year. An old saying about peonies says that the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap!
As soon as your plants are fully grown, you can bring your garden flowers inside by cutting stems while the buds are still in a soft marshmallow-like stage. Your home will smell sweet with peonies.
Our free guide, How To Plant A Peony Cutting Garden, goes into more detail about how to plant peonies for cutting. You can find it on the right side of your browser window or under the “Press and Resources” tab.
Enjoy your artfully arranged perennial garden, and remember to take time to stop and smell the roses…or peonies.
-Written by the members of the Alaska Peony Cooperative
Where Do I Buy My Peonies? | Rose Garden Progress ✨
FAQ
Can roses and peonies be planted together?
What not to plant next to peonies?
What should you not plant around roses?
What is a cross between a peony and a rose?
How many peonies can you plant around a rose?
As peonies generally reach 3 by 3 feet at most, you can plant at least 3 to 4 peony seeds around your rose. Peonies are plants that are small in stature, and can be quite a good choice for small garden spaces. However, peonies and roses should be planted at least 15 to 20 cm apart, in order to allow precious space and breathability at mature sizes.
Can you plant roses and peonies together?
The good news for other romantic flower lovers, is that yes you can definitely plant roses and peonies together! Peonies and roses have similar watering, feeding, sunlight and even soil needs, which is why you can plant roses and peonies together in the first place. Peonies require slightly less watering, approximately 2.5 cm of water twice weekly.
Should I plant peonies individually or in groups?
Peonies are beautiful individually, but planting them in groups creates a magical and breathtaking scenery in a border of mixed herbaceous peonies. If you’re planning to grow peonies in your home garden, consider this arrangement.
How do I choose the best peony plant?
When choosing a peony plant for your garden, consider the following: If space permits, consider a long blooming peony island with taller growing tree peonies in the background and lower growing herbaceous or intersectional peonies in the front. Lower growing intersectional peonies make good foundation plantings. This arrangement gives peonies a backdrop that does not compete for moisture or nutrients in the soil.
Do peony blossoms make a good garden design?
If you love colorful garden design, this idea is one of a kind. The herbaceous peony blossoms seem to invade your lawn with their beauty, adding vibrant touches to the landscape with red, pink, yellow, and white shades. Despite having lavish flowers, somehow, they are not too flashy.
Where should I plant peonies?
Peonies should be planted in shade protected areas for tree peonies and more sunny spots for herbaceous types. The other necessity for peonies is good soil. Planting peonies in poor, unimproved soil will not allow them to grow or flower well. All types of peonies need fertile and well drained soil.