In this material, we consider specific dates when to cut peonies for the winter in the suburbs. You should not talk about how luxurious and fragrant peonies decorate the site in spring and summer. In the gardens of the Moscow region, these flowers are widespread.
Despite its amazing appearance, it cannot be said that peonies are demanding care. Although, special preparation for the winter is required. The cutting of the bush and its shelter is carried out. This is especially true for early varieties, because, by winter hardiness, they show good characteristics, but only if the shelter and trim are correct.
How to cover peonies
In the thematic video on the topic, when to cut peonies for the winter in the suburbs, you can learn a lot of new and interesting things about this process. The success of wintering peonies will depend largely on the place where they are planted. Because, even within the same garden, but in different places, these flowers overwinter in different ways.
If the goal is to protect the bushes from frost, then you should immediately choose the right planting place - between trees and shrubs. When peonies are planted on an elevation, blown by the winds and snow is falling on them, then additional shelters for such bushes are necessary for a successful wintering.
Important! As an additional warming of flowers, mulching is carried out with a layer of dry peat. Upstairs put a box, which is additionally covered with fir branches.
If the beds are located in the lower part of the garden, where the moist and cold air stagnates, then shelter is required even more. You need to use burlap or building cover material. On top is additionally made a tent made of spruce branches. This also applies to tree peonies.
How to prune peonies
Now we turn to the main question of this material, when exactly peonies crop. All work must be managed before the onset of frost. In the suburbs it is worth orienting somewhere in the middle of October. That is, by this moment, the flowers should already be properly trimmed and covered.
Defining a specific cutoff time is easy. The soil for this period should already be frozen, but the root system is prepared for wintering (that is, it will accumulate enough nutrients so that the flower can hold out during the winter). Trimming is done by completely cutting off the aerial parts. You need only leave a foam over the growth buds somewhere up to two, a maximum of three centimeters. Cut stems need to be collected and burned.
Important! To protect the bushes from low temperatures, and this is relevant for the period when the snow has not yet fallen, it is recommended to carry out hilling with dry peat, and, to a thickness of up to ten centimeters. If the regions are colder than the Moscow Region, then the thickness of the layer can be safely increased to twenty centimeters.
Features of the use of shelter
In order for the flowers to actively and quickly develop in the spring, they should be additionally covered for the winter. Mulch will not allow crusts to form on the surface of the soil, which means that the buds of spring growth will be reliably protected from frost in the winter, and even from frost in the spring. Plus, mulch is an excellent nutrition for plants.
Important! In no case can you use straw or dung as mulch, as well as cut stems and leaves of the peony itself. This is dangerous because it creates a favorable environment for the development of fungal diseases. Fungal spores can germinate and, as a result, interfere with the normal spring development of plants.
After the snow melts in the spring, it is recommended to throw the material along the bed, but still leave a little mulch under each bush, which will protect it from crusting and keep moisture in the ground, and prevent early weeds from breaking through.
So, when to cut peonies for the winter in the suburbs - this must be done before the onset of frost. As a rule, on average, they focus on mid-October, so that by this time they finish all the work. However, there may be some nuances depending on the specific year, sometimes the pruning period stretches until the beginning of November.
It turns out that caring for peonies in terms of preparing for wintering is not so difficult. It will be necessary to cut the bushes almost to the base, and then be sure to cover them for the winter. Shelter is selected depending on the place of growth of peonies, and even within the same area, different shelters may be needed for the degree of protection.
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