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Peonies - flowering hints
Does anyone have any hints on how to get peonies to flower? I live in Oz
and within a radius of about 25 kms there are a number of us who are all having absolutely no luck in getting peonies to produce flowers. The plants grow lushly and in most cases flower buds appear but they just don't flower - ever. Some of us have been trying for the last 20 years and have patiently mucked and watered and composted and watched them settle in but even up to 10-15 years later (whilst still in the same position) the blasted things have failed to flower. Settling in doesn't seem to be the problem and since most of us have several peonies in varied locations (full sun, some shade, full shade etc) we are reasonably sure that location isn't a problem. Water also doesn't seem to be a problem (at least until last couple of years when drought has hit but even then we all have irrigation systems and as only one of us lives in town where watering restrictions exist we all have plenty of water to pour on even if that is a constant job). I know that peonies do grow and flower well in lots of areas of Australia and even in the wider region around ehre that gets coverage by our local radio and which lies beyond our local vallies. The climate here is hot in summer and cold (down to -10C) in winter so we aren't trying to grow them in temperature conditions where they won't flower as teh temperatures where they do grow are similar. Our topsoil here generally tends to be very shallow (about 20 cm would be a good depth in the virgin state) but several of my fellow gardeners live on farms where there has been over a century of good gardening practices followed and the soil is very, very good. We have all racked our brains for years so we are desperately seeking help. When I asked the question on the local gardening guru's radio show he couldn't identify any lack of care based on the information I provided. The radio station was promptly innundated with call from those smartys who could get peonies to flower saying how simple they were to grow and how easy it was to get good flowers (rich soil, lots [but not too much!] muck, regular deep watering, full sun etc, etc, etc ad nauseum - didn't the sods HEAR what I said about my regime! It was exactly as the successful growers described but no luck! Anyway, as a result of asking the question on radio many local people recognised my name and we then all realised that we'd all been vainly trying to achieve the same thing for such a long time. We have all put our heads together to compare notes but again to no effect in the past couple of years. I am wondering if there is some mineral or essential element missing form our local soil that could perhaps be present elsewhere within a 100km radius. Any clues anyone? Please? |
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