Hi everyone,

I'm reposting this from the Ask a Question forum due to lack of response. I hope someone can help and that I haven't damaged my beautiful Garden Treasures.

Due to an injury, I wasn't able to cut back a couple of my peonies at the right time. Of course, the foliage died, and when I did finally cut them back, I found that there were several pips. This was before the first hard frost (see pictures, below).

I cut them back above the pips, leaving them in tact. We've since had our first hard frost and I haven't been out to see the effect yet. Regardless, I'm wondering if I should break them off? Or would it be best to just leave them alone? I noticed that some of the pips are at ground level. Should I mulch them? I really hope I haven't harmed them.

I'm in North-central Massachusetts, zone 5b. Thanks for any help--it'll be greatly appreciated.

Hi Joannakat. Itohs do put out pips on the lower stems like their woody peony ancestors but in the colder zones those typically don't survive the winter; I've never had growth from them in my zone 4b garden. They also form eyes below ground so the loss of the stem pips isn't significant. I've heard that in the warmer zones those above ground pips put out growth before the below ground eyes, assume they eventually even out in growth but it'd be super cool if having growth from both extended the bloom period....
If you want to try to keep the above ground pips I'd mulch them through the harshest winter months and remove it as early as possible in the spring. Keep an eye on it though because mulch can create a nice mouse hotel—it'd be awful to do something to try to keep those pips and have more of the plant destroyed by pests....

Liz, thank you SOOOOOO much! I'm very experienced when it comes to gardening, but not when it comes to loving peonies. I fell in love with them the first time I saw one.

Is mulching with leaves an okay thing to do? We certainly have a lot of them right now, mostly maple and oak. I can also get pine needles which is what I used when I first planted.

I routinely use pine needles to cover new growth when a late snow/ice storm is expected in the spring, works great. I assume leaves would be the same but not sure if they mat down quickly. Pine needles don't, at least not here, so moisture isn't trapped against the stems to encourage rot. Hopefully someone who uses leaves will respond to let us both know how they work as mulch around peonies!

Again Liz, thank you SOOOOOO much.

Hi Joey,
Try not to worry too much. Itohs are quite hardy. I'm in zone 7a, and if I have above ground stem buds they will grow out.

Leaves do mat down too much. If you feel you need some protection,use the pine needles.

I'm sure Garden Treasure will do just fine.

I hope you are feeling better now.

Thank you LG. I will, and I am.

I notice big pink buds on Itohs right on the surface every fall and probably they die during winter, I don't know. When snow melts in spring new leave grow without any problem. So don't worry, joannakat!

Oh, my goodness Anya, if that happens in Alaska, then I know it'll be okay.

Thank you!

Here is some semi-relevant info written by Bill Seidl:

Killing a healthy plant is easy, just use herbicide carelessly. Or let it grow in a depression — even if otherwise it is on a slope. Snow-melt water, if it stands for a couple days at the base of the plant, will kill the crown when it freezes to ice. A third way came unexpectedly. The 01-02 winter here started off very dry. We had relatively mild weather for Zone 5 but still minus 10 or 12 overnight for some nights. There was no significant snowfall until March. At the time I thought if this dry spell had occurred in May, June, and July, it would have been a disasterous drought for farmers. I lost many peonies, herbaceous and tree, on a rented lot with very sandy soil. (Daylilies were lost for area growers.) The tree peony buds fattened up in April and looked great; then they wilted and dried up. The roots were frozen, not the tops. It seems cold temperatures will penetrate dry soil much more intensely than wet. And that did them in. There is a scientific explanation for this that I shall not attempt. Some leaves had blown in around some plants in the fall which I left in place. Those plants were OK.

EDIT: It is important to know that Bill lived in Michigan,

The full article is here: https://www.peonysociety.eu/se...

Thank you Top, this is excellent and helpful information. Much appreciated.

Very interesting, Top.

I haven't heard that before.