Growing Peonies
1How can you help me grow peonies?
While peonies are resilient plants if they’re looked after correctly, the specifics of how to grow peony rootsdo this can be challenging. That’s why every purchase comes with our special growing instructions for gardeners. As part of our services, we can guide you in this process and help you with any aspect of growing these beautiful blooms. Contact us if you have questions – particularly when they’re flowering or you see signs of Botrytis, which is a fungus that appears as black spots or marks on the leaves or stems. Please note that in order to advise you, we typically need pictures of your peony plants that you have purchased from us.
2I’m a large-scale grower and want to sell my roots. Can you help?
Yes! I can definitely look at selling your roots for you . Please get in touch if this is something you’d like to explore further.
3Do I have the right conditions to grow peonies?
Peonies need to be grown in cold climates where there is lots of frost or snow. During the cold winter, the peony plant dies back completely in order to generate the eyes or buds for shoots and then flowers in spring. A general guideline for gardeners is that peonies require 30-60 days of night or day temperatures below 6*C. If you have lots of frost or snow then your climate is well suited to growing peonies.
4What are the ideal peony growing locations in SA?
The following areas are suitable to grow peonies in South Africa:
• Gauteng: Johannesburg, Pretoria and surrounding areas.
• Free State: Bloemfontein, Bethlehem and surrounding areas
• KZN in-land areas only: Nottingham Road, Underberg, Drakensburg and surrounding areas
• Eastern Cape in-land areas only: Cradock, Queenstown, Tarkastad, Molteno, Dordrecht and surrounding Southern Drakensburg areas
• Western Cape, in-land areas only: Southerland, George, Ceres, Picketberg and parts of the Cederberg area.
• Northern Cape: Kimberley, Upington, Colesberg, Prieska and surrounding areas.
The above list is just a guide. You know your climate best and can decide on if you think your climate is suitable and would like to give growing them a try.
The following areas are NOT suitable to grow peonies due to their warmer climate:
• Western Cape: Cape Town, Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch and Somerset West
• West Coast and Southern Coast areas such as Hermanus
• The Garden Route: Knysna, Plettenburg Bay, Port Elizabeth
• Eastern Cape: East London and the coastal areas of the Transkei coast
• KZN: Durban and all coastal areas
• Mpumalanga: Most areas within the province
We will not process your order if you live in an area that is too warm to grow peonies.
• Gauteng: Johannesburg, Pretoria and surrounding areas.
• Free State: Bloemfontein, Bethlehem and surrounding areas
• KZN in-land areas only: Nottingham Road, Underberg, Drakensburg and surrounding areas
• Eastern Cape in-land areas only: Cradock, Queenstown, Tarkastad, Molteno, Dordrecht and surrounding Southern Drakensburg areas
• Western Cape, in-land areas only: Southerland, George, Ceres, Picketberg and parts of the Cederberg area.
• Northern Cape: Kimberley, Upington, Colesberg, Prieska and surrounding areas.
The above list is just a guide. You know your climate best and can decide on if you think your climate is suitable and would like to give growing them a try.
The following areas are NOT suitable to grow peonies due to their warmer climate:
• Western Cape: Cape Town, Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch and Somerset West
• West Coast and Southern Coast areas such as Hermanus
• The Garden Route: Knysna, Plettenburg Bay, Port Elizabeth
• Eastern Cape: East London and the coastal areas of the Transkei coast
• KZN: Durban and all coastal areas
• Mpumalanga: Most areas within the province
We will not process your order if you live in an area that is too warm to grow peonies.
5How long do peonies take to flower?
Growing peonies is an exercise in patience. Although you’ll probably need to wait a few years until your peonies start flowering prolifically, the wait is well worth it! In the first year, if you’re disciplined and have a long-term view to having a strong plant that produces many flowers, you will keep just one bud on the plant. Taking off the buds allows the plant to send energy into establishing a good root system. In the second year you should get three to five flowers on your peony plant. You will want to cut the stems short to keep lots of foliage to produce energy for the roots. Finally, in the third year, your peony plant will be considered mature and will most likely produce more than five flowers.
6Can I order peony roots if I live in a climate that is too warm to grow peonies?
We feel that peonies should only be planted and grown in the correct climate. We will not send you peony roots if you live in an area that is too warm – and we will refund your purchase if you make an order for one of these areas. If your purchase of peony roots is a gift for someone who does live in a cold area, please make sure to put the correct delivery address on the order.
Ordering Process
1Can I pre-reserve peony roots?
Occasionally, our online store runs out of stock due to high demand. If this is the case, you can add your name to our waiting list and we will contact you to let you know when our peony roots are once again available for sale on our online store. We process orders on a first-come, first-served basis and our peony roots sell out quickly. In order to get the colours and varieties you want please order as soon as you are notified that the roots sales are open on our online shop.
2When will you send me my peony roots?
We keep a waiting list throughout the year and will contact you when the peony roots are ready to send out.
We have two releases - 2024:
• The 1st release is the Summer New Year release in January/February
• The 2nd release in the Winter release in June/July Sales for each release open a few weeks before the roots will be sent, so please don’t expect your roots straight after placing your order.
It is best to purchase your roots as soon as you’re notified of the catalogue release in order to reserve the colours and varieties you want.
We have two releases - 2024:
• The 1st release is the Summer New Year release in January/February
• The 2nd release in the Winter release in June/July Sales for each release open a few weeks before the roots will be sent, so please don’t expect your roots straight after placing your order.
It is best to purchase your roots as soon as you’re notified of the catalogue release in order to reserve the colours and varieties you want.
3Important delivery and order Information:
• Once your peony roots order is ready to be sent to you we will send your waybill tracking number to you by SMS. Deliveries typically take 3-7 days to reach you once they have been dispatched.
• If you live in an outlying area please send us a town address for your delivery.
• Our next deliveries are scheduled to be sent out when the roots are ready to be lifted sometime between June-August 2024.
• All our peony roots’ orderscome with growing instructions and we are available to answer any questions you have.
• If you have a growing question please always send us a picture with your question so that we can advise you accordingly.
• We love seeing where our peony babies end up so please send us pictures so that we can see them in their new homes and gardens.
• Please let us know now when you place your orderor closer to the delivery time if you will be away, unavailable to receive your shipment or would like us to make a special arrangement for your delivery.
• Once the roots have been lifted for shipment we dispatch them as soon as we can and suggest you plant them when you receive them and following the growing guidelines. If you would like to know who to prepare for your order please email us through the contact us page.
• Thank you for choosing PeonyAndMore for your peony roots order. We look forwardto sharing our passion, knowledge and the joy of growing peonies with you.
• If you live in an outlying area please send us a town address for your delivery.
• Our next deliveries are scheduled to be sent out when the roots are ready to be lifted sometime between June-August 2024.
• All our peony roots’ orderscome with growing instructions and we are available to answer any questions you have.
• If you have a growing question please always send us a picture with your question so that we can advise you accordingly.
• We love seeing where our peony babies end up so please send us pictures so that we can see them in their new homes and gardens.
• Please let us know now when you place your orderor closer to the delivery time if you will be away, unavailable to receive your shipment or would like us to make a special arrangement for your delivery.
• Once the roots have been lifted for shipment we dispatch them as soon as we can and suggest you plant them when you receive them and following the growing guidelines. If you would like to know who to prepare for your order please email us through the contact us page.
• Thank you for choosing PeonyAndMore for your peony roots order. We look forwardto sharing our passion, knowledge and the joy of growing peonies with you.
Other FAQ's
1How many peony roots can I order?
Minimum orders are three roots and the maximum is 25 per box. For large orders please contact us to confirm availability and a large order discount. Orders will be couriered to you with growing instructions and gardeners are welcome to contact us for advice. If you’d like to pre-order peonies for more than 25 per variety, please contact us by February. We will do our best to fulfil your request, however we may have to substitute your variety for a similar one of the same colour. We do not take pre-orders for small orders of less than 25 roots.
2How will I receive my peony roots?
Your peony roots will be couriered to you with growing instructions. Once your roots are on their way, you will be sent your waybill for tracking.
3Can I order peony roots from you if I don’t live in South Africa?
At this stage we are only sending our peony roots to people in South Africa. However, if you live in a cold area in Africa and would like peony roots, please contact us.
Returns Policy
1My peony roots arrived with a quality issue.
We strive to send you the freshest peony roots of the highest quality. Should there be an issue with your order please email us the details, together with a picture of the issue. We generally do not take returns, due to the time limits on returning the peony roots to us.
2My peony plants died will you refund me?
In the unfortunate event of your peony plants dying, we cannot take responsibility for them not surviving after being planted. Once you have received the roots they are in your care, and there could be many reasons for them not flourishing, which are out of our control. While we won’t be able to refund you for your purchase, we are available to talk you through helping your ailing plants to flourish.
