Does anyone have pictures of peonies with other plants in the gardens? Particularly plants that bloom after peonies, but look nice with the foliage of herbaceous peonies? I'm in upstate, NY zone 5b

HI Iluvpeonies. I am also upstate NY (zone 4b/5a).

I tend to throw everything together in my gardens so i'm not sure if I have the discerning eye to say what looks good with what.

however. here are some things i've interplanted (* next to the ones that flower after peonies)
- creeping phlox
- phlox*
- hosta*
- cone flower*
- black-eyed susie*
- zinnia*
- dahlias*
- dwarf sunflowers*
- foxglove

One thing to note: If your area has big issues with powdery mildew probably best to avoid zinnia and phlox. Our winter temps kill off most of the powdery mildew so that give me some flexibility I didn't have when i was growing in zone 7.

happy interplanting!!

oh - i just realized I should also mention wildflower mixes.

because we are a new farm on a limited budget we've interplanted wildflower mixes in our fields too.

They are affordable compared to transplants, attract pollinators and i swear they improve the soil.

I've tried different mixes but, in the end, find that Johnny's Seeds mixes do the best.

I don't have any good pics to share but 2nd Lyndakerfarms opinion on cone flowers. Also have lilies and daylilies, foxtail lilies have foliage similar to thin daylily straps but bloom much later here, late July into late August, depending on the variety. Agastaches and Penstemons are good as well, blooming later and into the fall. Blackberry and Candy lilies are actually in the iris family but bloom well after peonies, have foliage like extra large irises. Spuria iris is supposed to bloom a bit later than peonies, mine haven't bloomed yet as they've only been in place a year.
Peonies are fairly xeric, don't need a ton of water, and some species and hybrids actually seem to resent extra water after they've bloomed. I've had to move some of my Saunder's peonies away from plants that needed more water as it looked like they might've been suffering, also the fernleafs don't seem to like it. Tree peonies, lactifloras and most of the hybrids are fine with summer watering but just be sure you know what you have and try to match watering requirements.

Hopefully Annette sees this string and shares some of her pics, she has some amazing combos! She uses clematis as a companion plant as well and it's gorgeous

Liz - oh yes - i totally forgot clematis! I haven't done that on our farm yet but did pair clematis with tree peonies when we lived in Brooklyn. It was breathtaking. Great suggestion!

THose are really great recommendations! Liz also made a great observation regarding the moisture needs of certain peonies. My favorite companion plant is anemone sylvestris. It provides a nice ground cover for the peonies with its pretty foliage and white blooms in spring and fall.

I am interested in adding height and drama to peonies, so looking for plants to be higher than peony foliage. We will see how it will work this summer. Interplanted with delphiniums, phloxes, penstemons, some low Buddlejas, foxtail lilies, alliums, amsonia, coneflowers, liatris and gauras. Medium size - decided to go with a lot of geraniums, lupins, catmints, salvia, sedum, heleniums, guillardias, russian sage. Also, thinking to add grasses at the back against yew hedge - in future.

I have added some hardy hibiscus into my peony beds. I'll let you know how that goes. I use daylilies, and Monarda,too.

Another great companion plant is baptisia. I was so smitten with baptisias that I got 5 new ones last year. I love all of them so far eventhough they are not quite established yet. They bloom about the same time as peonies and the blooms last a long time.

Lemon Meringue


Cherries Jubilee


Lunar Eclipse


Australis - this one I bought several years ago but I had to move it twice so it did not produce as many bloom stalks this past spring.


The other two new ones that have not bloomed yet are Prairieblues Twilite and Carolina Moonlight.

Lovely, Karen!!

Baptisia winter sows well if you grow from seed, too.

Sorry for the late response, it's been crazy at work! Excellent suggestions for companion plants! I I use many of the same.

For late winter/early spring interest, I have daffodils interspersed among the plants, it's great when they bloom together.

For later in the season, in the front of the beds I use daylilies, and the tiny lily series. I use a lot of clematis as mentioned above, like Arabella between the plants and the I put the taller clematis on the fence behind the plants. I also use the various lilies, Asiatic and Orientals between the plants, and the OT and trumpet lilies behind the plants. Further, I love the bearded irises, many of which bloom at the same time as the peonies, and I also like Columbines, my Dorothy Rose has seeded throughout the garden.

As Karen stated, Baptista are also an excellent plant to add to the back of the peony beds. I also have David Austin roses in one of the beds, that provide blooms throughout the season, when the peonies are no longer blooming.

In my next garden, I hope to combine the early, mid and late blooming plants, so that I have an a longer season on interest, and I'm also working on color echoes.

I'll share some pics when I get a moment to go through them.

Very nice, Littlebin. What is the yellow ground cover?

Sorry, I don't know :(. They aren't my plants. They were in Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

Mieko2 said:Very nice, Littlebin. What is the yellow ground cover?

Very nice effect. I will keep my eyes out when I go on garden tours this year.

The yellow understory plants look like Corydalis.

https://wimastergardener.org/a...

Thank you Annette!

You're welcome LG!