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Grow peonies from seeds
- a project for patient gardeners

You may wonder about growing peonies from seeds that your plants produce, especially when you notice the pods that some types develop after they have finished flowering.

If you want to propagate from seed, I don't want to discourage you, but with peonies it's quite a long-term project.

Here are some pointers to remember:

• Popular cultivars don't come true from seed.
• Many peonies - generally, the big double ones - are infertile (they don't produce pollen or seeds).
• Be patient. From seed to flower can take as long as five years, even seven years to get a mature flower.

How to grow peonies from seeds

Sometimes novice gardeners mistake the seed pods for seeds (or even bulbs), and think it's just a matter of cutting the pods off and sticking them into the ground. But it's a bit more involved than that.

When you find seed pods, leave them on the plants to ripen. Wait until they harden and begin to open, and you'll see the seeds. This is the time to collect them.

To germinate, the seeds need a period of moist warmth for a few weeks or months, and once a root has emerged, they need a period of cold for about 10 to 12 weeks.

Quebec peony grower, Lindsay D'Aoust, provides detailed instructions for growing peonies from seeds (link opens in a new browser window).

Of course, if you're not interested in collecting the seeds, simply deadhead the plant after blooming, so it will put its energy into the roots, and not into seed production.

Related information:

Peony care tips: planting, staking, watering, how to divide

Peonies at Dutch Bulbs

What can go wrong with peony plants

Help, I've got ants on my peonies

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