I can't remember where I heard about this, but a 90+ year old woman had planted her tall bearded Iris to keep her floppy peonies together and upright because that was done "in the old country." Any Ideas as to how I would go about this? I have a bunch of NOID from my mother, they are not special, but might look great with my peonies.

I'm not sure that would work that well, unless the Iris had shorter, robust stalks.. and even then, a little rain would make a nice, fluffy peony go heading for the ground, and possibly take out the iris stalk as well.. Maybe it would work with single, or semi-double peonies..?? That said, Iris and Peonies look beautiful together. Try it, and report back to us
I use metal grids with legs to keep my floppy perennials and bulbs upright.... This is one of the large supports I use..

I have a bed with peonies down the center, and irises next to them. If I don't support the peonies they flop over onto the irises and shade them too much. The peonies are too heavy to be supported by any of my irises.

~ @Sandsock welcome to the iris forums!!!!

A few irises I planted by peonies didn't do so well. Like Tom said, mine were shaded too much by them. Unfortunately they never bloomed, and were in a bad spot that that gets mostly shade in early June. My peonies also slowly swallowed the irises up and started growing inside their clumps (causing them to rot.)

So I got to thinking that if I put a ring around the peony and the iris on the southern half of the peony, the iris would at least cover up the peony ring. The ring might even support my tall iris stalk too. Thanks for all the help!

How do you support your peonies, Tom?

I use a small step in electric fence post, they are quite small and thin, so hardly visible, and then I tie a twine around the peony and tie it to the post. It works quite well, and the cost is minimal.


Some peonies like Bartzella are sturdy enough that they don't require support.

My peonies flop, too. I will have to figure something out for them. (It would be nice if they didn't though.)

For years I avoided peonies because I didn't like the way they flopped. Then I learned that some are quite capable of holding themselves up without support. I have five, and I rarely have problems with flopping. Singles tend to do better than those with lots of petals.

Nice Gal


Mahogany


Garden Lace


Crinkled Linens


Pink Cupcake

lauriemorningglory said:For years I avoided peonies because I didn't like the way they flopped. Then I learned that some are quite capable of holding themselves up without support. I have five, and I rarely have problems with flopping. Singles tend to do better than those with lots of petals.

Pink Cupcake

• Peony (Paeonia lactiflora 'Pink Cupcake')
• Uploaded by lauriemorningglory

~ Laurie I have a lot of older peonies that were my grandmothers and those tend to flop over plus the flowers are white HUGE. I can sometimes smell their fragrance from the vegetable garden in the spring. Also is that TB iris in the photograph "Beau Zam"? Beau Zam is one of my favorite Bearded irises.

Ian, I'll bet those peonies from your grandmother bring back good memories. Got to find a way to help those blooms! The folks on the peony forum probably have a lot of suggestions.

The iris with pink cupcake is BB Blackbeard. One of my favorites.

older ones flop. I grow Sarah Bernhardt because it came from my parents house in WI. (notorious for flopping). Japanese peony Jean Erickson (red) does not flop.

I always use peony rings to support my peonies. The peonies grow up through them and hide them perfectly. I recommend ordering peonies that have won both the APS Gold Medal AND the Award of Landscaping Merit. The latter are much less likely to flop. There are quite a few gorgeous peonies that have won both awards. Compare the two lists!