Evaluating Peonies For Cut Flower Use
Prefer listening to the audio version? You’ll find it here
When we initially started growing peonies commercially we only sold root divisions - not the peony flowers/stems.
As root sellers we valued a diversity of peony attributes and acquired our stock with that in mind. When picking varieties for root production, we generally focused on the following:
A wide range of colors
A variety of bloom forms
Different plant habit types
Newly introduced varieties offering attributes (colors, leaf shapes etc) that might not be available in more traditional cultivars.
Our purchase strategy allowed us to offer a wide variety of colors, flower types and price points - all within a relatively modest-sized catalog. Gardeners responded well to the variety.
Then in 2022 we started selling our peony stems and quickly realized - not all peony cultivars performing well in a decorative setting work well for the cutting garden/in cut flower production.
Now, as we start to differentiate those cultivars we’ll continue to sell as roots vs those for cut flower use, we’re using some standard evaluation criteria to make those choices.
Here’s how we’re making these calls:
1. Does the bloom form appeal to your (or your target market’s) taste?
So far, customers seem to prefer doubles and/or bomb forms. Some very full semi-doubles also play well. Singles and Japanese/Anemone forms - though very popular in our root catalog - do not seem as popular as cuts (with some exception).
2. Is it a color you - or your target market - will use?
Everything about a peony variety can be perfect but if the color isn’t fit for purpose, you won’t use/sell the flowers.
Magenta peonies are a perfect example of this.
Our experience to date indicates that magenta peonies remain in high demand with the general public. However, for designers and florists, who might be working with more restricted, event-oriented palettes, magentas might be less useful.
3. Will it store well and still retain long vase life?
Some cultivars make beautiful cut flowers but don’t seem to hold up well post-storage. On our farm, we’ve encountered this challenge with Peony “Coral Charm.” While “Coral Charm” is beautiful if we cut it and use it immediately, it’s barely usable after even a short stay in refrigeration.
From what I can tell, what stores well for you may vary from what stores well for other farmers/gardeners. I know farmers who store Coral Charm for long periods of time without issue. Others encounter problems nearly identical to the ones we’ve found.
I think the key is to experiment with the cultivars you have. In our experience you will quickly identify those that don’t work well for you.
4. Does the variety thrive in your growing context?
We target varieties that
Increase reliably
Are floriferous
Posses reasonable disease resistance
We have some stunning cultivars, that produce beautiful cut flowers, but they just don’t thrive in our particular growing environment. Believe it or not, the much beloved “Sara Bernhardt” is one of those cultivars for us. While the lovely Sara B performs decently well in our fields, we see better productivity from other pink cultivars like “Whopper” or “The Fawn.”
(Fwiw - we’re not giving up on Sara. We’re currently trying different planting locations and plant health amendments in hopes of finding a situation that better suits her!)
I’d love to hear about the peony cultivars performing best in your context. Particularly, we’re really focused on establishing a strong offering of white peony cuts. Which ones are working well for you?
Happing growing Plant Friends!
If you want an audio version of this article, plus some additional commentary on our peony cuts, you can find that here: