Peonies are one of the most beautiful flowers in the garden… but they can leave things looking a little off for most of the season. And the issue usually isn’t the peonies themselves. It’s what’s planted around them.
In this video, I’m sharing exactly how to design around peonies so your garden stays full, layered, and beautiful all season long. We’ll talk through the simple planting strategy I use to extend the visual impact of peonies, including companion plants that carry the garden before, during, and after they bloom.
I’ll also show you how to keep those heavy peony blooms upright and supported without them flopping all over neighboring plants, plus a few easy tweaks that make a big difference in how polished your garden looks.
If you want a low-maintenance garden that still feels full and intentional, this is the approach I use every year.
🌿 RELATED:
Peony Supports I Use (affiliate): https://urlgeni.us/amzn/growthruplantsupports
Deer, rabbit, and other wildlife repellents (affiliate): https://urlgeni.us/amzn/plantskyyddeerrepellent
Peonies
Peony Companion Plants: https://stacyling.com/peony-companion-plants/
How to Keep Peony Blooms Upright: https://stacyling.com/peony-care-how-to-keep-blooms-upright-and-off-the-ground/
How to Make Peonies Bloom Longer: https://stacyling.com/how-to-make-your-peony-flowers-bloom-longer/
Plant Care Guides:
Foxgloves: https://stacyling.com/growing-foxgloves/
Coneflowers: https://stacyling.com/purple-coneflower-care/
Rudbeckia: https://stacyling.com/how-to-grow-black-eyed-susan/
Salvia: https://stacyling.com/how-to-grow-salvia-plant/
Coreopsis: https://stacyling.com/growing-coreopsis-tickseed-for-a-pollinator-garden-and-endless-summer-blooms/
Sedum: https://stacyling.com/growing-sedum-autumn-joy/
Nepeta: https://stacyling.com/how-to-grow-nepeta-a-complete-guide/
Hostas: https://stacyling.com/hassle-free-hosta-care-for-an-effortless-shade-garden/
Heucheras: https://stacyling.com/how-to-grow-heuchera-plant-the-complete-guide/
📚 If you want help putting this together in your own garden, I walk through plant selection, design, and low-maintenance strategies in my book The Bricks ’n Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden.
Grab your copy → https://urlgeni.us/amzn/stacylingbook
📒 And if you want a simple way to track what blooms when and how your garden evolves over time, my Flower Garden Planner is where I keep all of that so I can build on it each season.
Find it here → https://urlgeni.us/amzn/stacylingbook2
🌿 My new houseplant book Filling Your Home with Life is now available — perfect for bringing your garden indoors:
Grab your copy → https://urlgeni.us/amzn/stacylingbook3
🌿 About Stacy
Hi, I’m Stacy Ling, a lifelong gardener in Zone 6b New Jersey and the creator of Bricks ’n Blooms, where I share practical tips for growing beautiful, easy-care flower gardens.
Grow easy. Live beautifully.
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If you enjoy the way I garden and talk through things here on YouTube, these books go much deeper and walk you through the process step by step.
🌸 The blog is where I slow things down and go into more detail. Read it here: https://stacyling.com
🌸Are you ready to get your bloom on? Shop Bricks ’n Blooms Merch here: https://stacyling.com/store/
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Bricks ‘n Blooms, LLC
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Chester, New Jersey 07930
—DISCLOSURE—
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45 Comments
I'm in 6b NJ too!!
I have Peonies in my front rock Garden full Sun and they are not doing well. I think the rock just makes them too deep so I need to move them. Can I do that in the spring? or Do I need to wait for fall?
Thank you for the information! I literally just told my husband (3 days ago) that I need to plant something with the row of peonies-otherwise there’s crabgrass!! The peonies were here when we moved to this house and have been the same for almost 30 years 🤷🏻♀️
❤❤❤
How do you deal with powdery mildew on peonies? I love them, but they always end up looking so terrible by late summer. 🙁
Foxglove is a biennial!
While they are blooming, they are gorgeous!
What peony is at 1:56 please? Right before the alliums. ❤
Last year, I had only one bloom, and my rhododendrons did not bloom, either. I have never seen this before!
Russian sage and hyssop are also some fabulous options both love hot well drained soil and are excellent in combination with our beloved peonies. Plus peonies show off best in bright sunshine so why would u put them with a shade loving foxglove. Right plant right place. If you want tall stately and pink Queen of the prairie is without question perfect and tough as a coffin nail.
Great info! Thx!
I did away with the big mophead blooms. Started planting the singles. Hybridizers forgot to breed the stems bigger while increasing the bloom.
Rabbits eat my Astors and Hostas.
I love to plant peonies with garden phlox which bloom right after the peonies and keep going for a while. I also plant Danes rocket, which look like garden phlox, but deer leave them alone and they bloom a long time and reseed themselves
So much information! Thanks
Thanks for very helpful video.
Subscribed 🎉❤❤❤ Thank you ❤
The rabbits eat my daisies and echinacea 😡
One of my favorite companion plants are peonies themselves because they have different foliage colors and textures, as well as Bloom time. I'm very cognizant of planting contrasting varieties near each other in order to get more interest out of them over a longer period of time.
Love Autumn Joy but the Deer eat mine 😕 Great Video thanks !!
🥰🥰🥰🥰
Yes! They look gorgeous for such a short time. Then mine get sick (fungus) every year…but still come back beautifully EVERY year!
QUESTION: I get tons of blooms, but it causes the stalks to fall right over. So I end up having to stake each stalk, which looks terrible. Any tips?
I have 7 peony plants – they all bloom sequentially – I have blooms for about 5 weeks. Then I wait for hydrogeneas and late summer, the dahlias
I look forward to seeing my beautiful peonies!!!
Thank you for the good info. I do think you only need to plug your blog and growing guides once maybe twice during your video not after nearly every flower you talk about. Starts to sound like an infomercial.
Zinnias and Dahlias
I have day lilies and creeping phlox. I need a 3rd option that blames mid summer.
I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am about you mentioning your growing zone, it’s the most important thing about gardening. Why fall in love and waste money with a zone 8 plant when you’re zone 5b-6a, like I am.
I thoroughly hate the purple salvia… I love it but hate the maintenance of properly deadheading it to get it to bloom again AND if it seeds it takes over the garden, we got rid of it 3 years ago and it still appeared last year.
I always forget to get my peony rings installed in time, we keep talking about redoing our front garden, didn’t get around to this last fall as planned so we’re doing it this fall. One on my peonies has spread up to 4 ft away from the mother plant, I have 4 volunteer plants, one of which is growing in the middle of one of my mini roses. I was going to just redo the garden this spring and sacrifice blooms this year but am afraid I’ll kill my plants.
Thanks for the video! One resource for peony “flopping” that has no peer is the peony ring made by Bob Keating in Connecticut. His rings are hand-made, used by many Botanical Gardens, and will last longer than a lifetime. Highly recommended!!
Bearded Iris needs the top 1/3 of the rhizome exposed. Plant the rhizome slightly above the soil. Sand soil.
My Mom planted a peony in Fairbanks Alaska in a south facing bed. The blooms were fantastic! I’m not sure if it was one or two plants- I always thot it was one plant. ❤
Subscribed, liked, & shared.💕Much love from Atlanta. Thank you for such great info !!!
Your videos are always so helpful, thank you!
I really wanted to buy more peonies, but they're $55 to $160 at Lowes! 😢
I found Deer Out quite a few years ago. It has been such a garden saver here in Western Washington state!
Daffodils with peonies are my favorite peony pairing. The peonies will cover the daffodils, eliminating the need to deadhead.
I cannot find the link for the bearded irises. I am struggling with blooms on mine. Would appreciate the link.
Peonies are beautiful!!!
How many times can you say…. I’ve got a growing guide…?
Buy a mic
Hello, I’m new to your YouTube! Great advice to add other flower with peonies. I will try some Nepeta with my peonies!!!! Thank you
Thanks for the information
I didn’t find the video helpful, because it doesn’t say how to use or place the plants with the peonies.
Roses are great in peony beds and, when chosen for repeat blooms, work their magic throughout the season.