How to Disbud a Peony

Earlier I talked about why I choose to disbud my peonies. Disbudding is removing the smaller buds below the main flower on a stem. Here I will show you how I do it.

Step One:

Look at each stem to see if it has small buds forming below the main bud. Not all varieties produce them. They form in the bend where a leaf branches off from the stem. Starting out small, the buds look like little peas. In this picture, they are more mature and have their own stems now.

Step Two:

Gently grab ahold of the bud with your fingers. Gently bend it back from the main stem. It should snap off easily. Do take care to not remove the leaf or damage the main stem.

Also, the stem or bud may be sticky. You may want to wear gloves. It doesn’t bother me one bit, I can wash my hands later.

Step Three:

The bud should now be separated from the main stem. You can toss them into your flower bed to decompose (which I sometimes do when I’m feeling lazy). Or the better option is to collect them in a bucket and deposit them in your compost bin.

Step Four:

Your stem should now look like this. The main bloom is at the top of the stem and the are only leaves below it now. You would barely know there use to be more blooms.

I like to disbud my peonies in the evening, as it is an easy task to complete and can be soothing in its repetition. After dinner, I take a glass of wine outside and go to work. It only requires one hand to do, after all!

It Started with a Packet of Seeds

I come from a long line of vegetable gardeners. My grandfather was a prize winning tomato and onion grower. He entered them in the county fair each summer and won many ribbons. My grandmother didn’t grow vegetables but she grew the most amazing fuchsia baskets.

My mom is a canner. She loves to feed the whole family and does so my canning. To do this, we had a huge vegetable garden at my great uncles house. My summer memories are of my bare legs covered in dirt because they were sweaty and I had been kneeling all day, weeding. To this day, I am not fond of weeding.

My mom could tell I was not happy. Her solution was to bring my around to loving the garden by letting me choose my own seeds. I am sure her thought was that if I grew my own cucumbers, I would suddenly love to eat them. Boy, was she wrong.

We went to the farm store to look at all the racks of seeds. The seed packets are divided into section: vegetables and flowers. The vegetable section look mostly the same, all green with the occasional orange carrot or pumpkin picture. But the flower section, it’s a riot of colors. That looked way more fun to me! I don’t remember the flowers I chose that first time, probably nasturtiums or marigolds.

My mom succeeded, from that moment on I was a gardener. Each year I would choose different flower: baby’s breath, zinnia, cosmos, bells-of-Ireland, etc. I started to craft with them, by pressing them in books and air dying them. Soon I was making Christmas presents for the whole family. I don’t believe my brothers loved their pressed flower bookmarks as much as I did.

Looking back now, those early years in my uncles garden were good times. I learned a lot about weeds, mostly how much I dislike them. I learned which flowers need to be supported by stakes or they blow over in the wind. I learned about bugs and how gross it is to see an earwig crawl out of a flower that you just picked to bring home. And I learned the power flower have in brightening peoples mood.

On our way home from the garden, we would often drop vegetables off at friends homes. Sometimes they were happy to see us, sometimes not. There’s only so much zuchini a person can eat! But when I pulled out a bouquet of flowers, their faces would light up. Every single time, just like magic.

I think that lesson is why I am still a flower gardener today. Flowers still brighten my mood. And I still share them with others. Now I am sharing them with you!

Disbuding Peonies

Peonies are one of the most popular garden flowers to grow. And one of the most requested flowers by brides for their weddings, no matter the season. Producing huge, ruffly blooms in late Spring, it’s easy to see why they are called the Queen of Flowers.

Many varieties of peonies grow side blooms that produce smaller flowers below the main bloom. You may be a fan of this, excited to have more blooms. Personally, I remove them in a process that is known as disbudding. A strange word, all it means is that the buds are removed from the stem. See this guide on how I disbud my peonies.

There are several reasons I choose to disbud my peonies. One is that it almost always rains right when the peonies are in full bloom. I do live in rainy Washington, after all! By removing the extra weight from each stem, I have a better chance of keeping my blooms from filling up with water and bending over. It just breaks my heart when their petals get dirty.

Another reason is I want the biggest blooms I can possibly get. By removing the side buds, the peony plant can focus all its energy to growing the main bloom. Some of my blooms get as large as plates this way!

Finally, I love to use the peonies in floral arrangements. The side buds are difficult to work around and tend to break off. I find it’s much easier to work with a single stem, especially if I am using other flowers in the design.

Whether you chose to disbud your peonies or not is totally up to you. Your peony plant will be happy either way. Peonies are a definite must to have in your garden. I’ll share a few of my favorite varieties with you soon!

5 Easy-to-Grow Cut Flowers from Seed

Picture this. You’re walking out of your front door into the garden, scissors in your hand. You’re surrounded by beautiful blooming flowers, all colors and shapes. The bees are softly buzzing as you reach out to cut a few stems to put in a vase for your house. Sounds like a dream, right? You can make it a reality with these easy-to-grow cut flowers.

Zinnia

A cutting garden favorite, they can be planted directly from seed into the ground. Start in spring, once the last chance of frost has past. Grow in full sun. Height is around 3′, so plant in the back of a mixed border bed.

Zinnias come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. Pictured here is Benary Giants in purple. Some of my favorites include: Queen Red Lime, Zinderella, Benary Giants and Oklahoma. Choosing a seed packet that includes a mix of colors is a good choice if your garden space is limited.

Cosmos

One of the prettiest flowers you can add to your garden, I plant them every year without fail. Wire thin stems support large daisy-like blooms in shades of white, pink and purple. When a breeze passes by, they gently dance in the wind. Grow in full sun. Height is tall at 3-4′.

There have been a lot of new varieties of cosmos introduced in recent years. Slightly different shapes or ruffly petal patterns. My favorites include: Double Click, Versailles and Psyches. I’m trying a new variety this year called Apricot Lemonade that’s suppose to be apricot/yellow in color. I’ll let you know how they do!

Sweet Peas

I haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t love this flower. Known for their spicy fragrance, they come in a wide range of colors. Grow them on a wire fence or strings for support. And when they are done blooming, cut their vines to add whimsy to your bouquets. Grow in full sun to part shade. Height is 6′.

I like to grow sweet peas on a wire fence that runs down one side of my flower garden. The fence is not that pretty, added to keep the rabbits out. By covering it in vines, it looks and smells amazing all summer long.

There are a wide range of sweet peas to choose from, from heirloom varieties to new strains. My favorites include: Mollie Rilstone, Old Spice, April in Paris, Spencer Old Times and Wiltshire Ripple.

Snapdragon

Snapdragons have been a favorite of mine since childhood, when I would go around and “snap” the flowers open by squeezing them. A versatile flower, they have a linear shape and long vase life which makes them ideal as a cut flower. They need to be started from seed many weeks before planting out in your garden, but the effort is well worth it. Grow in sun to part shade. Height is 3′.

Snapdragons come in a wide range of colors. One of my favorites is deep burgundy, which has a soft fragrance. The other colors do not. Some of my favorite varieties include: Chantilly (shown in picture), Rocket and Madame Butterfly. Choosing a seed packet that includes a mix of colors is a good choice if your garden space is limited.

Love-In-A-Mist

Also known as Nigella, I fell in love with these the first time I saw them. The flowers are surrounded by frilly green bracets, giving the illusion of being in a mist. Flowers turn into the craziest looking seed pods. Balloon shaped and often striped, they make great additions to your bouquets. Or you can dry them to craft with later. Grow in full sun. Height is 2′.

Once you plant these in your garden, they will come back year after year. They freely seed themselves. I have them all over my gardens, moved by the wind. They typically come in a mixed color packet that includes shades of white and blue, sometimes pink if you’re lucky. Other varieties to try are Delft Blue and African Bride.