Enjoy your peonies even longer with this tip!
Do you know the feeling when your favorite plant is in bloom? You admire it from the garden, cut the flowers for a vase in your home and try to soak it up as much as possible. If you’re a fan of peonies, here’s some good news: You can “hold over” peony buds in the fridge for several weeks. So even after the plant has finished blooming in late spring, you can have a vase of garden-picked peonies in summer. Imagine pulling out a bouquet of your favorite peonies to enjoy in the middle of July! Let’s look at the quick and easy steps to save your peony blooms for later.
How to select the right peony flower buds
To get the most out of your peony bouquet, it’s best to pick budding flowers that haven’t quite bloomed. Pick buds that aren’t too tight and are starting to loosen. It helps to gently press each bud with your thumb, as shown in the photo above. It should squish slightly and have a density similar to a marshmallow.
Gather up as many of these peony buds as you’d like. Stick a handful of them in a vase of water to enjoy a bouquet now, and then follow the rest of the steps below to save some of your peony blooms to enjoy later.
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How to save peony blooms for later
Longtime peony collector Kris Jurik shares how she uses this simple tip to enjoy blooms later and even enter flower shows in the video above. It’s a must-know trick you’ll come back to year after year. Find the simple steps below:
1. When your peony flowers are in bud, check them frequently to notice when they begin to soften and reach the marshmallow stage. Once you’ve found the soft buds, use pruners or garden snips to cut just above a set of leaves, harvesting a good supply of peony stems to hold over. (Make sure to cut stems so they are an inch or two longer than what you need for your vase, since they’ll need to be trimmed again before arranging.)
2. Place the cut peonies inside a large paper or plastic zip bag to preserve and protect them in the fridge. Be careful to not bend stems or damage the buds in the process.
3. Nothing else goes in the bag! No additional moisture is needed, because too much moisture could cause mold to develop. You can plan to store them in the fridge for one to two months.
4. When you are ready to enjoy a bouquet of peonies, take the buds out of the fridge. To encourage them to bloom, cut the stem again about a half-inch from the bottom at an angle to help it draw in water. Place them in a vase with room-temperature water and watch the blooms open over the next day. This is a great way to enjoy homegrown bouquets filled with fragrant, romantic peony blooms all summer long.
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