This time last year I wrote about the unprecedented warm warm weather we were experiencing here in northwestern CT. This fall has been much more typical weather here at Cricket Hill Garden. To date, we have has several nights in the mid-to-low 20s as well as two days of snow. The ground remained workable and this has allowed us to finish up all of our fall planting. Below is a quick photo journal of some of our fall projects.
Potted tree peonies tucked away for the winter in our hoop house. We got the plastic on just in time, it snowed the day after!
Even as much of the garden has settled into earthy tones of brown, this tree peony bed with a living mulch of Dutch white clover remains brilliantly green. We were very pleased with how this cover worked as a weed suppressant and plan on inter-planting it in more display garden beds next spring.
This new tree peony bed has been mulched with 4 inches of leaves for the winter. In the very early spring, we will move it away from the base of the peonies.
Our preference of ‘leaving’ the leaves on a garden bed as much as possible enriches the soil, protects the plants, and also provides a favorable winter environment for these self-seeded giant red mustards. These turn fiery after the frost and make a healthy and powerful addition to stir fries.
These two newly planted raised beds are full of some of our own test tree peonies. Many of these young plants will bloom for the first time next spring. Needless to say, we are very excited to see what they look like.
If there are any old leaves lingering on your tree or herbaceous peonies, these should be cleaned up. We do not like to let these stay in the garden. Fungal spores can overwinter and colonize in the soil around the plant, potentially causing harm in the spring. We obviously still have some work to do before we retire for a few months of reading in front of the wood stove.
Our newly rearranged and replanted production field.
We are very excited about this seemingly lifeless twig! It is one of eighty Chinese persimmons (Diospyros kaki) we were able to import this fall. Altogether we will be testing ten varieties of cold hardy persimmons which have intriguing names like “Ox Heart” and “Millstone.” These plants need to be grown under quarantine for two years and it may be longer still before we are able to properly evaluate their suitability to our region. In the future, we hope to make some of these varieties available for sale.
My tree peonies have become very leggy and out of shape. How drastically can I cut them back to get control of their shape again. thanking you, Barbara Fox
Hi Barbara,
Tree peonies can be cut back quite a bit if you want to really reshape the plant. Whole stems can be cut down or you can just cut misshapen branches back to a viable but on the main stem. Before you prune heavily make sure that your tree peony is on its own roots. This is indicated by lots of stems coming up from the ground, a plant like this will compensate for lost top growth by sending up new growth from the roots. If there are just one or two stems it could be that the plant is still on its graft root, in which case a severe pruning involving cutting whole stems down could kill the plant. Also you should amend the area around the plant with lots of good organic compost before a big pruning. This will provide the plant with slowly released nutrition as it sends up new growth. Also to consider is that the tree peony many have become misshapen and leggy because it is reaching for sunlight. Tree peonies do best when they receive six hours of direct or slightly filtered sun. It may be that to reshape your tree peony you will need to prune a branch or two from a neighboring shade tree. This is a great question which I will do a post on with illustrations. Until then, please let me know if you have any other questions on pruning your tree peony. Best- Dan
Have you ever tried over-wintering the potted tree peonies by simply laying them on their sides and covering them up with plastic? That seems to work for all of my temperate plants, but I do have a small greenhouse since many of my plants are evergreen, and can continue growing through the winter.
What kind of heating system do you have? My 400 watt metal halide seems to be over-kill for my little greenhouse as it affects the temperature too much, but yours is bigger so you may need about that much energy, or something else like a wood furnace.
Hi Steve-
We used to over-winter our potted tree peonies by laying them on their side a covering with plastic, but always had soil spill out of the containers and a big mess when we uncovered them in the spring. We still use this method for overwintering our potted herbaceous peonies. The hoop house is unheated. The lowest it drops down to is about 20 degrees and this is fine for the plants.
Dan