Peonies in a vase: why buds stay closed and how to care for them
WTF! What The Flowers florists · Dnipro
Peonies arrive as tight buds, and that is normal. How to open them, how long they last and what they cannot tolerate. Florist tips from WTF! Dnipro.
A peony almost always arrives as a closed bud, and that is not a defect but the reason the bouquet lasts. Cut open, it drops its petals within two days. A firm bud the size of a golf ball opens at your home in two or three days and then holds for another week.
To wake the bud it needs warmth and water. Strip the lower leaves so they do not rot, cut the stem at an angle by two centimetres and put it in room temperature water. Cold water slows opening, so if you want to speed things up, use slightly warmer water.
Sometimes a bud refuses to open at all. Usually the reason is a sugary film: the peony secretes nectar which hardens and glues the petals together. Touch the bud, and if it feels sticky, wipe it gently with a damp cloth or hold it under warm water for a few seconds. That is normally enough.
The other reason is a bud cut too early. It feels hard as a stone and responds to neither warmth nor water. Nothing can be done at that point, which is why we source peonies only from farms that cut at the right stage and inspect every delivery.
The rest of the care is simple. Trim the stems every two days, change the water, use flower food, which comes with every bouquet of ours. Keep the vase away from direct sun and from fruit, which releases ethylene and ages peonies twice as fast. Cared for this way, the bouquet lives seven to ten days.
The peony season in Ukraine is short, from late May to mid July. Outside it there are imported ones, more expensive but available. See what is in stock in the peony catalogue.
