How To Grow Peonies In Zone 9 ?

Question

I live in Zone 9 (Hammond, LA; only about 40 miles south of the Zone 8 south border) which is supposed to have too warm winters for peonies, but peonies are said to be bale to grow in Zone 8. I’m willing to experiment a bit to try to gro them. (I’m originally from NW Ohio and family had several bushes with beautiful blooms.) Since peonies can thrive in Zone 8, I’m thinking of planting bare roots in Nov/Dec/Jan (last frost end-Feb) and keeping ice on planted area for some time, including sometimes putting dry ice above planted roots area so ground/roots freeze. ~ How many cold/freezing hours are required for peonies to grow in the spring ? ~ Any other environmental conditions I’d need to consider/influence to make bushes thrive ? ~ Is there any expert source for data (printed or not) on this I could directly go to ? Thank you.

Answer 1

Your best bet is to focus on the cultivars that do better in the South, i.e., single and Japanese bloom types. Early blooming types and Itoh peonies also fare better in warm climates. To flower well, they need six weeks of temperatures below 40 degrees F.

Look for a nursery that specializes in peonies and will know which cultivars to choose.

These articles should help:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/peony/warm-weather-peony-care.htm

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/peonies/

https://homegarden-cahnr.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3479/2022/10/Peony.pdf

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/peony/growing-hybrid-itoh-peonies.htm