When is the best month to prune peony flowers? When is the best month to prune branches and leaves?

Peony pruning time

The pruning of peonies is mainly done after the flowering period each year and before summer, which is around May to June. If you choose to prune in winter, you can choose to do it after the leaves fall. These time periods will not affect the normal growth of peonies.

How to prune peony flowers

The main purpose of pruning peony flowers is to cut off the withered flowers, cut off all the withered flowers and their pedicels, and break off the small buds on the new branches of the peony flowers. This will concentrate the nutrients on the flowering buds.

At the same time, we also need to prune off diseased branches, thin branches, dry and aging branches, and cut off overly dense branches. When pruning, we can leave three main branches of the strong peony flowers, and leave three side branches on each main branch, which will make the main branches grow better.

Things to note when pruning peony flowers

When pruning a peony, you need to be careful to remove all the bad parts, because if they are not cleaned up, they will still need water and will take away nutrients for the healthy branches and leaves of the peony. Moreover, this may increase the chance of the peony being affected by pests and diseases, affecting the quality of the plant's dormancy. When pruning, you should follow the principle of pruning from top to bottom to avoid damaging the flower buds.