@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

Thank you! Follow up question, I could wait any time between now and end of May, is now more ideal? Im in zone 5, and we are having a very warm week, but I‘m sure we will have another snow dusting and more cold temps.

you do what you gotta do.. when you have to do it.. so.. just do it ...

this is what you will be dealing with: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=peony+roots&iax=images&ia=images

i would probably pot it for summer ... any experience with that??? .. and plant it in fall ...

i would also put it out of hot sun .... full bright shade if you have it ...

it is highly to your advantage to always include big city name... location often matters ...

ken

If you have overnight temps below freezing, stash the peony in the bag somewhere where the temps will not drop that low. In a garage or basement or even brought inside the house but just for the night. It's an outside plant and needs to be outside - you just want to protect it from extremes in its vulnerable, uprooted state.

Thank you both, I’m in zone 5 and there is a chance of freezing still. it was put to close to the house as well so guessing that side of the rootball will be deep. My husband asked when I was digging it up, I told him he was for how deep/large the root balls will be. I’m surprised he hasn’t priced a new one and gone that route. 😉

in an emergency like this .. it really isnt imperative.. that you get the whole root ... they sell them in smallish boxes at bigbox ...

it might be easier to deal with a small piece.. rather than some giant gob of soil ...

besides.. you could pot up a smaller chunk.. and that would make it real easy to move with the house ...

in my z5 MI .. they are still dormant.. which is the perfect time ... considering the scenario ....

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=diggin+dormant+peony&t=ffnt&ia=web

look at the pic here ... thats all you need: http://www.homesteadfarms.com/peonies/

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=diggin+dormant+peony+roots&t=ffnt&iax=videos&ia=videos

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 we are having ridiculously nice warm temps that we know won’t last so lots of buds on trees and shrubs. If the frost doesn’t get them the family of deer who love our yard will. We put in 10 spruce and pine trees 6-9 ft last fall, the white pine was looking sad and we’ve not had rain (under burn bans) so I watered it and debating the rest. SE Wisconsin not getting the rain, passes through but we count drops of what falls. Had hoped turning on a faucet/watering would cause the rain to fall. No luck yet. Chance tomorrow though!

I have dug and moved peonies at different times of the year (to make room for paths, etc). They aren't happy about it but they get over it. Many times I haven't been able to dig the entire plant and it breaks apart or I shovel it apart unintentionally. I use that as an opportunity to divide them and plant the pieces in different locations, and end up with multiple plants. Right now, mine are all blooming or in bud!

hello all, thought I’d post here versus a new post, its along the lines of first question. so the Peony has lived in 2 containers all this time and we did not tackle the yard/new deck as planned. I also aquired several bushes and hostas that dont quite have a home yet. Here is what Im thinking: dig holes where the deck will be built next year and put all the plants in the ground for winter. I have ten 3 gallon hydrangeas, 3 bushes called “wine and roses” and 20-25 hosta clumps along with the peony’s. Plan is to put them all together in the one area for easy watering and knowing that portion of the yard will be torn out next year. Should I leave the shrubs in the containers with the bottoms cut off? They are root bound. Or take out of the container directly into the soil. We are 3/4 acre and just can’t get them where they will go yet because we have a major buckthorn problem the eradicate first and the house remodel has taken WAY TOOO long. Disappointed to not get to gardening this year, but it it what it is.

its called healing them in for winter .... not really related to the old post ...

the alternative is holding pots over winter .....and whether you need to do that depends on where you are... big city name ...

this would be a helpful post to anyone who needs to do this.. unrelated to whether they have a peony involved ...

ken

Milwaukee. I don’t think I can keep the peony in the pots, wouldn’t they freeze through?

Is there another term for “healing them” in winter? I’m trying to read up on that and not getting anywhere. Other than healing gardens, zen like.

Spelled “heeling in”.

Heeling in means to bury the pots so the roots are surrounded by a mass that will protect them from winter temperature swings and exposure to particularly cold temps.

I have healed in plants in my veggie beds or places there are summer annuals or most frequently by surrounding the pots with mulch. In my really cold zone I bury the pots right up to the rim, and I parti like using mulch because it tends to drain better in spring when we often have a lot of water in the first several inches while we wait for deeper layers of soil to thaw enough for drainage.

Ah, thank you for spelling explanation. Allowed for more research!