Hi all,
I've had two peony plants in containers on my patio for the past 3 years (this Summer will mark year 3). This year, we had a good 24 blooms per peony and lost half of them to some sort of bud-blast. That, in itself, is a lot to figure out. However, for the half that survived, half of those have actually opened, and of THOSE, only a few are fully opening. Most concerning, the flowers seem really distorted (see attached photos) with fragile petals that are just falling off.
We live in zone 6b, the plant gets 8+ hours of full sun. They were fully exposed to the winter cold and I've made sure they aren't buried too deep in the pots. The soil may be a bit nitrogen rich but is generally good. Of note, last year the plants had a horrible powdery mildew that destroyed them by September.
Any ideas as to what may be causing these distorted flowers? Bonus points if anyone can hazard a guess at the initial bud-blast, too. I suspect the two may be related but am unsure. I've been told by nursery staff that peonies are extremely difficult to grow in pots, I'd hate to admit they're right.
