Digging and dividing peonies

I'd rather have you just buy new ones from me......but in case you want to propagate your own here's how. As long as the soil is 'workable' you can dig and divide peonies. Workable is defined as not too wet, not yet frozen....dry might be more difficult but still 'workable.'

First determine if the plant is large enough to divide. You can't go by how many years it has been planted in your garden. Before I was in business, I bought some plants from Jungs that were so small, 6 years later they are still to small to divide. Now I buy large wholesale crowns. If you bought yours from me, I would wait at least 3 years to divide. Dividing is not necessary if the peony has plenty of room.

A plant for dividing should have a base of at least 10" across, think dinner plate size. Start digging about 4 inches out from that 10" base. The roots are large, like a bunch of weird carrots fused together and they are brittle and break easily. You likely will not get all the roots unless your soil is really loose. So you may have little guys sprouting next year. A new crown should have at least 3 growing points also called eyes. At this time of year, they are small red/pink points at the crown of the plant. Before cutting in sections, look it over careful. You want to cut it in such a way that you get the most roots with at least a piece that includes 3 eyes. Use a sharp, heavy duty knife. You can cut the ends off the roots that are really long, maintaining a 6-8" piece is plenty. Toss the extra pieces you cut off that have no eyes. If you end up with tiny pieces with less than 3 eyes, plant them together in the same hole. You can store the roots for a while before planting, but this time of year re-plant right away. You can start digging them in late September. Re-plant in the proper size hole according the new root piece. The eyes must be 1 -1 1/2 inches below the soil line. Too deep and they won't bloom. After firming in the soil, water well. Water again in a week if no rain falls. Mulch with 6" of straw/hay/leaves right away. Pull off mulch in April. You should not need to use winter mulch after the first year. Don't get greedy and try to get too many plants out of a peony, you might not cut them big enough to survive.