Peonys that wont bloom
By Deb2
United States 
We have a row of peonys in our front yard . They are different varieties, some light pink to white, some I remember were a fushia/red. The red ones never mature to full blossoms any more. They get a bud the size of a pin head,, sometimes progressing to the size of a pencil eraser, then they sort of dry up and never bloom. The other white, pink ones blossom fine. They are all treated the same, and last fall we thinned the whole row out, thinking overcrowding was the problem. However,again , this year, the fuschia/red colored ones had the beginnings of what look like blossoms, but they dried up or quit growing into full blossoms. Any suggestions on what is causing this or how to solve the problem? Debbie
On plant
Peony
18 May, 2008
Answers
In general, peonies can stay put for many years if the soil was
properly prepared to begin with. So has the planting site been
disturbed or changed in a significant way, such as its drainage. And
was any soil added atop the existing bed? Peonies should be
planted a max of 2" deep, less in warmer areas. In the fall,
examine the roots of the non-producing peonies & compare with
those which are blooming to detect any root rot etc.
That said, of my dozen plants this spring 3 did not bloom. This is in an area around a new house where soil of varying types was brought in to fill several flower pits in the concrete patio. In the fall I will dig these plants up and move them to what I consider more favorable
soil and site. P's require a lot of sun, good drainage and little
fertilizer unless the soil to start with was not amended. Good
luck.
19 May, 2008
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When you say thinned out how did you acheive this? Paeonies hate their tubers(root systems)being cut into.If you lifted whole plant and gently divided it then should be ok but if tubers sliced will take a few years to recover - hence the poor flowers.
18 May, 2008