Topic: Pruning tree peony.

[grannyjanny]

I cleared a bed on Sunday of plants that had succumbed  to the bad winter. There is a peony in the bed & I think I can see a bud at the base. Do I prune above that bud please.

[ACE]

I cleared a bed on Sunday of plants that had succumbed  to the bad winter. There is a peony in the bed & I think I can see a bud at the base. Do I prune above that bud please.

Take a tip of and see if it green inside. keep snipping down the stalk untill you find life. Is it a tree peony or the ordinary type? If it was a tree variety it should be sprouting from the top of the twigs. Mine are just showing. If it is the ordinary blowsey ground type, mulch the bud in case it gets a frost.

[grannyjanny]

It's a tree peony Ace & the top looks dead but there is a pink bud at the base. What do you think?

[ACE]

It's a tree peony Ace & the top looks dead but there is a pink bud at the base. What do you think?

The roots on these plants can be cut up and make new plants. (takes a while). So yours is sprouting from the bottom again. Like I say just keep pruning down in 6 inch cuts till you come to a green inner stalk. but if nothing is found leave the stalk above the bud at a about 18 inches so as not to disturb the new bud. Mine are half out in leaf now so lets hope it is a tree poeny bud and not just something that has grown up through.