How to Care for Cut Peonies

Peonies are the big, soft, many-petaled flowers of late spring, and they change fast: a bud the size of a golf ball can open to up to three times that size in a day or two. With good care they usually last 5 to 8 days in the vase. The one thing that matters most is temperature: warmth opens them quickly, and a cool room slows them down so you get to enjoy every stage.

When your peonies arrive

1. Unpack the arrangement right away and set it somewhere cool, out of direct sun. If a doorman held the delivery, check the water as soon as it comes upstairs.
2. Look at the water level. Most of our vase designs sit in water, not foam, so top the vase up with cool tap water.
3. Add the flower food packet we include with every order, mixed into the water as the packet directs. Flower food helps peonies open fully and hold their color.
4. Give the buds time. Tight peonies often look like closed balls on day one and open over the next 1 to 3 days in a warm room.
5. If your peonies sit in green foam, keep it soaked and leave the stems in.

For a hand-tied bouquet, fill a tall, sturdy vase with cool water and the flower food. Remove the wrap, cut an inch or so off each stem at an angle with a sharp knife or clean scissors, strip any leaves that would sit under water, and put the stems in right away. Pick a vase with a narrow neck or enough height to hold the heads up once they open.

Everyday care

• Peonies drink a lot in a warm apartment; refill the vase every day.
• Change the water every 2 days or so, or sooner if it turns cloudy, and add fresh flower food.
• Each time you change the water, trim about half an inch off the stems with a clean, sharp blade.
• Keep them away from radiators, steam heat, sunny south windows and the direct blast of an air conditioner or heater vent.
• Keep them away from the fruit bowl. Ripening fruit gives off ethylene gas, which can make some peonies drop petals sooner.
• Water the stems, not the flowers. Peony petals hold moisture and can develop gray mold, so skip misting.

Make them last longer

Use temperature to set the pace. Want the buds open for a dinner tonight? Keep the vase in a warm, bright room, out of direct sun, and they will move quickly. Want them to last through the week? Keep them in the coolest room you have, and move the vase to a cool spot overnight. Growers hold peonies just above freezing for exactly this reason: cold keeps them in bud, warmth brings them on.

Support the heads. A fully open peony is heavy, and a stem that stood straight on day one may bend by day three. In an arrangement, the other flowers and the vase hold them up. With a bouquet of your own, a taller vase or a narrower neck keeps them upright, and a shorter stem trim lets a nodding head rest on the rim.

Don't pry the buds open. You can gently loosen an outer petal or two, but forcing the center bruises the petals. Pull off leaves that sit in the water and take out any bloom that has dropped its petals, since decaying plant matter feeds bacteria that clog the other stems. For the routine that works for every flower in the vase, see our guide to making cut flowers last.

Skip home remedies like sugar, soda or aspirin; the flower food packet does the job better.

Common problems

Why won't my peony buds open?

Most just need warmth and time. Give them fresh water with flower food and a day or two at normal room temperature. Buds that show some color and feel soft, like a marshmallow, will open. A very hard, green bud that feels like a marble may never open fully; that happens now and then.

Why did my peonies open all at once and fade so fast?

Heat. A sunny window, a radiator or a warm office can take a peony from bud to full bloom in a day and to dropping petals soon after. Move the vase somewhere cooler to slow the rest down.

Why are the heads drooping?

Either the stem can't drink or the bloom has grown too heavy for it. Top up or change the water and give the stem a fresh angled cut. If the stem is firm but the head is simply heavy, shorten the stem so the flower sits lower and is better supported. If flowers from us arrive damaged, contact us within 3 days of delivery or pickup with your order number, the recipient's name and a photo, as our refund policy explains, and we'll take a look and make it right where we can.

Are there ants in my peonies?

Very unlikely in an arrangement from a florist. Ants visit peonies in the garden for the sweet nectar on the buds, and they are not needed to open the flowers. If you cut peonies from your own garden, hold each one upside down and shake gently, or dip the bud briefly in water, before bringing it inside.

Good to know

• Pets: the ASPCA lists peony as toxic to dogs, cats and horses. Its listed signs if eaten are vomiting, diarrhea and depression (low energy). Keep peonies where pets cannot reach them. If you think a pet has eaten some, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. More in our pet-safe flowers guide.
• Cats and lilies: peonies are often mixed with lilies, which are life-threatening to cats; even pollen or vase water can cause kidney failure. Keep lily arrangements away from cats, or write "no lilies" in your cart's order note and we'll make your design without them.
• Scent and petals: many peonies have a soft, sweet fragrance. Open blooms drop their petals all at once near the end, so keep the vase off anything you don't want dusted with petals.
• Where you may see them from us: peonies are seasonal, so we use them in designs like Pink Fury and the hand-tied Punch H when they are in, and make those designs with other flowers the rest of the year. Call the shop to ask what is available.
• Season: peonies are a late-spring flower, roughly May to June from local growers; imported stems extend the season. Browse our peony arrangements and ask us what is in right now.