Best Peonies for Cut Flowers

Peonies are often wed to celebrate special days of our lives to remember, and what better way is there than to upgrade your bouquet to another level by using fragrant and colorful peonies to accentuate love and passion! Pure Whites are always a winner combined with fragrant scented silky smooth pinks, corals, yellows and reds in all shades.

Of course, roses and peonies are the perfect companions, whether as cut flowers in a vase or in the garden next to a range of foliage plants that are perfect for creating different arrangements of bouquets throughout the seasons. But when planning on growing your own cut flowers, you should consider growing a range of other flowers and foliage too that will bloom at the same time. See our companion planting list. By planting with these recommended plants in mind, you get to create a heaven of floral masterpieces to have on hand in the same season. This of course is not limited and can be worked on depending on your location, further south in England, Flowers tend to bloom a few weeks earlier than up here in Scotland, this means that there will be some plants that will be perfect to have in your garden that will flower in the same time frame.

Caring for your cut flowers

Now as we all know, when cutting flowers from the garden, the best time to do this is during the early hours of the day when the temperature is still nice and cool and evaporation is at a minimum. Make sure to use clean, sanitized tools for the job. Choose your desired flowers and cut back the bottom parts of foliage to prevent them from being submerged in the water. To ensure the peony flowers are enjoyed much longer, cut the stems when the flower is still in the bud, with just some colour showing, cut them when the buds are firm, yet soft as a marshmallow. There should be some sort of retraction in the bud after you squeezed it.  Keep in mind that with each flower form comes different textures too. While single petal flowers are usually cut while the bud is still a bit hard. As with double, semi-double, bomb and Japanese flower forms, keep in mind the amount of layers within each bud, this will result in a much softer plump bud. 

Make sure the bottom parts of the stems do not dry out too much as this will cause air pockets within the structure of the stem, leading to unsuccessful water uptake when placing in water. If this does occur, ensure that you re-cut the bottom tips from the stems and place them in the water immediately to prevent the air pockets to restrict water uptake later on. Once you are done with the selection of your flowers, place them in a cool location out of direct sunlight to enjoy the flowers for longer. You can prolong the life of cut flowers by placing them in cold water also by replacing the water daily to prevent any bacteria from flourishing in the water and by placing a half teaspoon of sugar in the water to keep them all happy.

Listed Below are some of the Peonies best for Cut Flowers

Doctor Alexander Fleming

Alice Harding

Amelia Olson

Angel Cheeks

Avalanche

Barbara

Baroness Schroeder

Big Ben

Bouquet perfect

Bowl of Cream

Bridal Gown

Bridal Icing

Bunker Hill

Catharine Fontyn

Charlie's White

Chippewa

Clair Dubois

Coral Charm

Coral Sunset

Coral Supreme

Cytherea

Dinner Plate

Duchess de Nemours

Edulis Superba

Elsa Sass

Etched Salmon

Felix Supreme

Festiva Maxima

Flame

Gardenia

Gay Paree

Henry Bostoce

Hermoine

Jacorma

James Pillow

Jan van Leeuwen

Kansas

Karl Rosenfeld

Lady Alexandra Duff

Lancaster imp

Lemon Chiffon

Maestro

Mighty Mo

Miss America

Mons. Jules Elie

Mothers Choice

Mr Ed

Mrs Franklin D Rosenvelt

My Love

My Pal Rudy

Myrtle Gentry

Nancy Nora

Nick Shaylor

Old Faithful

Paul M. Wild

Paula Fay

Pillow Talk

Pink Dawn

Pink Parfait

Postilion

Raspberry Sundae

Red Charm

Reine Hortense

Salmon Dream

Sarah Bernhardt

Scarlet O’Hara

Sea Shell

Shirley Temple

Solange

Violet Dawson

Vogue

White Cap