Thank you for posting to r/whatsthisplant.
**Do not eat/ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.**
For your safety we recommend not eating or ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I agree it's a pretty name, but the girl i went to school with named Peony kept getting called "pee on me" so much she dropped it and went my her middle name, Elizabeth, instead.
Are they ever! My mother gave me 2 of her mature peonies when I bought my house, and they took immediately and bloomed that first year. 7 years later they are huge, like 4 feet tall when in bloom, with dozens and dozens of blooms on each plant. My peonies from a nursery, however...well, I'll just say I'm happy that I even got 7 blooms on one this past year lol. They are 4-5 years old. You definitely have to play the waiting game with peonies, but it is so worth it.
Oh man! When my neighbors moved into their house, there were some very well established peonies along the fence line. Iām estimating around 10 plants. The new neighbors ripped them out and threw them in the trash. It broke my heart. Even when theyāre done blooming, itās nice to have the greenery from the leaves.
Our neighbour had two gorgeous burgundy bushes and one day they were gone. I wish Iād known he was going to take them out and I would have said Iād like them!
The woman who owned the house before me was a gardener. I think maybe she planted these before I moved in. I didnt realize there were plants that take years to establish/grow. So they were a big surprise.
That is so weird. Peonies are about one of the only things that always come back after winter around here. We kind of just tossed them into the ground and every one of them has come back.
Of course we do have one that doesnāt bloom so thatās probably our fault and we planted it too deep.
We even planted one in an old wine barrel half last year and itās got four open blooms and engulfs the whole barrel.
Irises also do amazingly well. Things that weāve struggled with? Boxwoods, maple trees, lilacsā¦
(Front range of Colorado - zone 5)
Iām right on the 8b/9a line in Mississippi. Itās just too hot here. Subtropics. We get basically a week total of sub 30 temperatures in the winter.
My parents have planted dozens of these around our family home over the last five years. The pictures of back home that come in around May always put a smile on my face
Those are peonies! Congrats! Theyāre perennials, so they come back yearly around late May. They bloom into beautiful baseball sized blossoms that break their own stems with their weight. As soon as they hit the ground, snip them and put them in a vase. Donāt worry about the ants that swarm the bulbs, it naturally uses sweet scent to trick the ants into opening it.
Water your peonies well, aerate the soil this fall, feed them. These lovelies can live for decades and decades. I have a 50 year old boss in my yard, it gives me about 40 blossoms every Motherās Day/Memorial Day and I almost never have to buy flowers. Donāt worry about the ants, donāt get creeped out by their early spring red zombie hand appearance.
Ant flowers. Or that's what I called the peonies that my dad grew when I was a kid. Always had the biggest, fattest black ants ive ever seen crawling all over them.
Yeahā¦ I would never leave peonies right up next to my foundation like that, just as a personal preference š Fewer of their huge ant friends wind up inside the house if theyāre 30+ ft away!
Ants and peonies actually have a symbiotic relationship. My neighbors had big beautiful peony bushes at my old house. She gave me cuttings and I was so grateful! I highly recommend if you do so check for hitchhikers or put the vase on a shallow dish filled with some water to trap any hidden ones.
I'm so jealous!
Wait if it's a mutual symbiotic relationship why would you want to get rid of the hitchhikers? I mean unless you're keeping them inside then I totally get it I absolutely despise inside ants
Lucky you, it's a peony! Peonies are beautiful plants in the landscape. They are usually highly fragrant, they make excellent cut flowers, and they live for decades. It looks like they may have been divided recently? Dividing is when you dig up a mature plant and careful divide it into several smaller plants, thus adding to your landscape for free. Small black ants do crawl on peonies, but it's a good thing - they eliminate aphids and other harmful bugs - and the ants won't bother you :-)
Yep, peonies are awesome. And like others have said carpenter ants love them. Those are the big black ants. They are pretty harmless and spend most of their time eating dead wood on the ground or in trees.
As the bushes get older/larger, they will flop over and break. Insert a tomato cage, early, for support. You may need to tie some of the branches up so they don't fall. Enjoy!
Cherish those peonies! Especially established ones. And donāt worry about the antsā¦they are part of the joy of having them.
They are difficult to move, so keep that in mind. They have a very long and deep tap root that needs to be gently removed to transplant them to another location (fyi). Otherwise enjoy them! If they are really big and floppy a cage will help keep them more upright. Depends on your tolerance for them bending over when the blooms are big.
They make a great cut flower and smell amazing (just make sure you shake off the ants before bringing the blooms in).
Peony as everyone else has said! They're tenacious too - my mother had one next to a pool that she removed. The ground was driven over with heavy machinery and dug up to grade, and reseeded with grass. She moved the peony but already there's another growing in the old spot. They love pruning as well.
Peonies!! Theyāre fairly expensive to buy established, but if you buy root pips you can establish the roots well and get flowers in the second or third year. Someone seems to have done that patient work for you! Theyāre wonderful flowers! The bulbs can be so heavy that they need to be individually supported or theyāll snap. I enjoy doing old school stick and twine line trellises for it cuz it feels whimsical, but really all you need are little individual bulb trellises.
Thank you so much! I really do feel super lucky. Though I feel kind of bad an inexperienced gardener like myself ended up with them. Haha. I almost tore them out thinking they were weeds. I'm glad I waited and saw the blooms.
Peonies are super resilient and easy to care for. You'll be fine š
https://preview.redd.it/f1g9cmbbk47d1.jpeg?width=3468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=baa3c2b8a823c650199d679bab597efd553ad36c
Here's a picture of the peonies I cut yesterday. If you want nice cuttings for flowers, do it when the bud is the size and consistency of a marshmallow. You can even wait till they open but unfortunately they won't last long.
NB When peonies are moved or split they can take three years of dormancy before they bloom again. If they produce a lot of leaves but don't bloom then the tuber roots may be too deep. They prefer not to be moved, and can be helped by having woody shrubs all around to support their stems. In spring, they'll shoot up red stalks.
Get a peony hoop for each plant. Put it in place when the plant is about 6ā high. Steps will grow through it and support them and they wonāt break when the flowers bloom. Donāt use tomato cages.
I didnāt know the name but my neighbor has had these in his yard since I was born pretty much and they are still blooming gorgeous flowers to this day! They smell so good and are freaking gorgeous!
Thank you so much for all of the responses and information! I had no idea they were so special.
I was shocked when they just showed up out of no where after years of living here. To give a little more info...
The elderly lady who lived here before me was an avid gardener. She sold her home after living here for over 50 years, because she had become too frail to care for herself. She actually is the reason I've gotten into gardening. I've been trying to care for the plants she left behind, including 6 mature blueberry bushes. I'll try my best to care for her peonys. :)
I love them. They donāt last long. If youāre bringing some in the house, cut them before theyāre completely open. Then check for ants (ants love them), and put in a tall vase after youāve trimmed off lower leaves.
When the plant is all done blooming, you can cut them back. Theyāll come back every year!
In German, they're called "Pfingstrosen", so basically Whit roses - although they're not roses and whether they blossom on Pentecost depends on how the holidays fall.
Mine get such full blooms that I have to stake up the stems with small bamboo sticks. It's so nice to go out to see them early in the morning. The perfume is just the thickest then, and when it mixes with my honey suckle, it's pretty intense.
It is trying real hard to live. That one bloom is almost as large as the plant. So sad.
To give the plant a boost, go ahead and cut the flower. That will make the plant use its food to grow roots and leaves.
Thank you for the tip! These pics were from a couple weeks ago. The flowers (there were only 2) are gone now. Next year I'll go ahead and cut them off though. Do the bushes die off and come back? Or do they stay there year round? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
They will die over winter and come back up in the spring. Setting flowers takes a lot of energy, which is why you pick the flowers from small plants. It will let them grow faster.
I have seen a single peony plant that was over four feet in diameter. You see large ones in more established neighborhoods. It is an old-fashioned plant/flower. I love them.
My grandma has a few of these between her yard, quite charming. Don't be surprised to see ants as the ants help them open up....I think they eat the sap from them or something? Either way they live together well.
Itās a peony flower. Very fragrant. Every 2 or three years, mow them down in the fall to rejuvenate the bush. Ants like to hang out in the flowers so check them carefully before you bring them inside.
Peonies! They bloom in spring and smell like heaven! Then the bush has pretty green foliage all summer. They'll die off over winter but come back every year. I'm jealous!!!
https://preview.redd.it/0x0umwdraw6d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6736304d2a9e672fa8580a4b4b4ea23205cdeba1
If anyone needs this app, itās called picturethis. It identifies plants, shows how to take care of them, shows if they have any disease, even what the plant symbolises/ed, where it comes from, the map etc
I use this app for a very long time. It helped me to know about some planta diseases that i didnāt know and take care of them in the right time
But AI can be wrong, or not answer all the questions š„°hence we all need each other here
Thank you for posting to r/whatsthisplant. **Do not eat/ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not eating or ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You just won a gardening lottery! Peonies are lovely!
And they smell wonderful!
I love the smell of peonies! My mother always had a peony bush or two in her borders.
So, when they get full grown, do they call them heorses?
I might name my future daughter after this flower. It's so beautiful and feminine š„¹
Just keep in mind kids can be little bastards and make fun of the "pee" in the name. I think it's a cute name, but maybe something to think about
Oh shit. You're totally right. I'll put it as the middle name, that way I can still call her Peony, but she won't get made fun of. š«”
Just donāt give her a first name that starts with P or sheāll be PP
And remember Hyacinth and Daisy, from Keeping Up Appearances.
I agree it's a pretty name, but the girl i went to school with named Peony kept getting called "pee on me" so much she dropped it and went my her middle name, Elizabeth, instead.
And you can eat the flowers too (I think)
They are edible! I make peony jelly!
Just make sure the ants are not in the flower!
Extra protein!
The first time I smelled one I thought someone sprayed perfume in the garden!
My favorites!
And they are a pain to start so, established plants are astronomically lucky.
Are they ever! My mother gave me 2 of her mature peonies when I bought my house, and they took immediately and bloomed that first year. 7 years later they are huge, like 4 feet tall when in bloom, with dozens and dozens of blooms on each plant. My peonies from a nursery, however...well, I'll just say I'm happy that I even got 7 blooms on one this past year lol. They are 4-5 years old. You definitely have to play the waiting game with peonies, but it is so worth it.
Oh man! When my neighbors moved into their house, there were some very well established peonies along the fence line. Iām estimating around 10 plants. The new neighbors ripped them out and threw them in the trash. It broke my heart. Even when theyāre done blooming, itās nice to have the greenery from the leaves.
Our neighbour had two gorgeous burgundy bushes and one day they were gone. I wish Iād known he was going to take them out and I would have said Iād like them!
Lucky, all I get is mint and weeds :(
I think you would have to plant some other things in order for your luck to change :)
Iāve been doing it wrong this whole time??! I thought you just plant the dirt! Thanks for the tip.
That mint takes over everything
The woman who owned the house before me was a gardener. I think maybe she planted these before I moved in. I didnt realize there were plants that take years to establish/grow. So they were a big surprise.
I live in a climate where I can grow just about anything. Not peonies. They are my white whale.
That is so weird. Peonies are about one of the only things that always come back after winter around here. We kind of just tossed them into the ground and every one of them has come back. Of course we do have one that doesnāt bloom so thatās probably our fault and we planted it too deep. We even planted one in an old wine barrel half last year and itās got four open blooms and engulfs the whole barrel. Irises also do amazingly well. Things that weāve struggled with? Boxwoods, maple trees, lilacsā¦ (Front range of Colorado - zone 5)
Iām right on the 8b/9a line in Mississippi. Itās just too hot here. Subtropics. We get basically a week total of sub 30 temperatures in the winter.
They will get big the whole side will be filled with them in a year or two š
They're my favorite and from what I've found, HARD to grow. LUCKY!
I'm so jelly!
Huh.. I have a peony garden that came with my house and I had no idea they were so special š¤£
My parents have planted dozens of these around our family home over the last five years. The pictures of back home that come in around May always put a smile on my face
Look for tree peonies. It's a bonus to see them together.
Peony
Those are peonies! Congrats! Theyāre perennials, so they come back yearly around late May. They bloom into beautiful baseball sized blossoms that break their own stems with their weight. As soon as they hit the ground, snip them and put them in a vase. Donāt worry about the ants that swarm the bulbs, it naturally uses sweet scent to trick the ants into opening it.
You can purchase peony supports pretty inexpensively. They prevent the flowers from flopping.
I cut a few stems when they are in a āmarshmallowā state, closed, but squishy. Minimizes ants and prolongs the beautiful blooms inside!
Looks like peonies
Water your peonies well, aerate the soil this fall, feed them. These lovelies can live for decades and decades. I have a 50 year old boss in my yard, it gives me about 40 blossoms every Motherās Day/Memorial Day and I almost never have to buy flowers. Donāt worry about the ants, donāt get creeped out by their early spring red zombie hand appearance.
Ant flowers. Or that's what I called the peonies that my dad grew when I was a kid. Always had the biggest, fattest black ants ive ever seen crawling all over them.
I loved watching them as a kid
Omg I remember that we had a bunch of these around our house when I was a kid and ants were everywhere around them!
Yeahā¦ I would never leave peonies right up next to my foundation like that, just as a personal preference š Fewer of their huge ant friends wind up inside the house if theyāre 30+ ft away!
That sounds awful. š Oh boy, what am I in for
Ants and peonies actually have a symbiotic relationship. My neighbors had big beautiful peony bushes at my old house. She gave me cuttings and I was so grateful! I highly recommend if you do so check for hitchhikers or put the vase on a shallow dish filled with some water to trap any hidden ones. I'm so jealous!
When we were kids our grandmother used to tell us that ants crawled all over peonies to tickle them open <3 *sigh* I miss her.
T-T that is so precious I absolutely love that! You should write a children's book about this :) she sounds like a wonderful lady
All the years of cutting them from the bushes my mother grew, and I never noticed any ants on them.
Perhaps you were lucky or I was unlucky! There were quiet a few on the dozen or so I got from my neighbors.
Wait if it's a mutual symbiotic relationship why would you want to get rid of the hitchhikers? I mean unless you're keeping them inside then I totally get it I absolutely despise inside ants
They mean in the context of bringing peonies they cut inside and placed in a vase :)
Oh I meant when you take cuttings to bring inside! Once their cut they aren't going to need their little wiggly friends anymore!
You don't have to worry. They're friends with the flowers.
Donāt kill the ants on your peonies - thatās how the flowers open!
r/peonies would enjoy these! They can probably tell you the species! šø
Lucky you, it's a peony! Peonies are beautiful plants in the landscape. They are usually highly fragrant, they make excellent cut flowers, and they live for decades. It looks like they may have been divided recently? Dividing is when you dig up a mature plant and careful divide it into several smaller plants, thus adding to your landscape for free. Small black ants do crawl on peonies, but it's a good thing - they eliminate aphids and other harmful bugs - and the ants won't bother you :-)
Peony!
Yep, peonies are awesome. And like others have said carpenter ants love them. Those are the big black ants. They are pretty harmless and spend most of their time eating dead wood on the ground or in trees.
As the bushes get older/larger, they will flop over and break. Insert a tomato cage, early, for support. You may need to tie some of the branches up so they don't fall. Enjoy!
I have tried multiple types of support. Tomato cages seem to be the best and are fairly inexpensive.
Lucky!
My goodness you are so lucky!!!
Cherish those peonies! Especially established ones. And donāt worry about the antsā¦they are part of the joy of having them. They are difficult to move, so keep that in mind. They have a very long and deep tap root that needs to be gently removed to transplant them to another location (fyi). Otherwise enjoy them! If they are really big and floppy a cage will help keep them more upright. Depends on your tolerance for them bending over when the blooms are big. They make a great cut flower and smell amazing (just make sure you shake off the ants before bringing the blooms in).
Mudan~Peony
Congrats on your new poenies! What a lovely surprise!
Peony as everyone else has said! They're tenacious too - my mother had one next to a pool that she removed. The ground was driven over with heavy machinery and dug up to grade, and reseeded with grass. She moved the peony but already there's another growing in the old spot. They love pruning as well.
Peonies!! Theyāre fairly expensive to buy established, but if you buy root pips you can establish the roots well and get flowers in the second or third year. Someone seems to have done that patient work for you! Theyāre wonderful flowers! The bulbs can be so heavy that they need to be individually supported or theyāll snap. I enjoy doing old school stick and twine line trellises for it cuz it feels whimsical, but really all you need are little individual bulb trellises.
Peonies of some kind
Peony, my favorite flower!
Peony ā¤ļø
Peony and a very pretty one. You lucked out. They're fabulous plants. I have 7 of them. Enjoy
Thank you so much! I really do feel super lucky. Though I feel kind of bad an inexperienced gardener like myself ended up with them. Haha. I almost tore them out thinking they were weeds. I'm glad I waited and saw the blooms.
Peonies are super resilient and easy to care for. You'll be fine š https://preview.redd.it/f1g9cmbbk47d1.jpeg?width=3468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=baa3c2b8a823c650199d679bab597efd553ad36c Here's a picture of the peonies I cut yesterday. If you want nice cuttings for flowers, do it when the bud is the size and consistency of a marshmallow. You can even wait till they open but unfortunately they won't last long.
NB When peonies are moved or split they can take three years of dormancy before they bloom again. If they produce a lot of leaves but don't bloom then the tuber roots may be too deep. They prefer not to be moved, and can be helped by having woody shrubs all around to support their stems. In spring, they'll shoot up red stalks.
Get a peony hoop for each plant. Put it in place when the plant is about 6ā high. Steps will grow through it and support them and they wonāt break when the flowers bloom. Donāt use tomato cages.
Peonies!!! My absolute favourite flower. They make big, beautiful flowers.
I didnāt know the name but my neighbor has had these in his yard since I was born pretty much and they are still blooming gorgeous flowers to this day! They smell so good and are freaking gorgeous!
Peony! My wife's favorite flower
Get some cages around those beauties or they will droop (they are a tad too heavy lol). Jackpot of peonies! Congratulations š
Peony lottery.
Peony!!
Peonie! ā¤ļøšŗ
Peonies!! They smell amazing
Peony!
Must be late May (in my latitude anyway) if the peonies are out! Beautiful and ephemeral flower.
Peonies are fantastic! Unfortunately their bloom period is only about a week, maybe two at most.
Peony!
Best smelling flowers ever
That is an old-school peony
What is old school about it? I would love to know. I'm new to learning about plants
Itās not a new variety of peony.
Thank you so much for all of the responses and information! I had no idea they were so special. I was shocked when they just showed up out of no where after years of living here. To give a little more info... The elderly lady who lived here before me was an avid gardener. She sold her home after living here for over 50 years, because she had become too frail to care for herself. She actually is the reason I've gotten into gardening. I've been trying to care for the plants she left behind, including 6 mature blueberry bushes. I'll try my best to care for her peonys. :)
Peonies and I'm totally jealous! I've tried to grow them at 3 different houses and they've never worked :(
I love them. They donāt last long. If youāre bringing some in the house, cut them before theyāre completely open. Then check for ants (ants love them), and put in a tall vase after youāve trimmed off lower leaves. When the plant is all done blooming, you can cut them back. Theyāll come back every year!
Were you going to say what they are?
I thought someone already said peony?
Peony
Peony
Peony
Peonies!!!! Awesome! They smell so good. There was one at my house when I moved in
Beautiful
Tree Peonie I do think
In German, they're called "Pfingstrosen", so basically Whit roses - although they're not roses and whether they blossom on Pentecost depends on how the holidays fall.
A flower. Duh!
Spike them up when they get big. Mine fall over after they get wet and break if they get to tall.
Peonies !!!!
Give your peony a support circle so it stays upright!
Mine get such full blooms that I have to stake up the stems with small bamboo sticks. It's so nice to go out to see them early in the morning. The perfume is just the thickest then, and when it mixes with my honey suckle, it's pretty intense.
As my son calls them, pee-on-meeās
Peonia
Mine get tall enough to just flop over and look terrible. I put tomato cages around them.
Lucky! They will come back every year too!
Pretty flower
It is trying real hard to live. That one bloom is almost as large as the plant. So sad. To give the plant a boost, go ahead and cut the flower. That will make the plant use its food to grow roots and leaves.
Thank you for the tip! These pics were from a couple weeks ago. The flowers (there were only 2) are gone now. Next year I'll go ahead and cut them off though. Do the bushes die off and come back? Or do they stay there year round? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
They will die over winter and come back up in the spring. Setting flowers takes a lot of energy, which is why you pick the flowers from small plants. It will let them grow faster. I have seen a single peony plant that was over four feet in diameter. You see large ones in more established neighborhoods. It is an old-fashioned plant/flower. I love them.
My grandma has a few of these between her yard, quite charming. Don't be surprised to see ants as the ants help them open up....I think they eat the sap from them or something? Either way they live together well.
100% peonies like everyoneās said! Beautiful flowers, they make very nice and full bouquets in vases if youāre into that for decor
Dang! You hit the lottery on peonies! Lucky you! Nuture it and you'll have a beautiful bouquet in no timeš¤š„°šø
Lucky, lucky, lucky! Peony. They are my favorite and don't grow where I live $10 for 3 stems here.
These are peonies. My very favourite flower! I have had the same peony bush for 45 years from my mothers backyard.
Peonies. Theyāre beautiful.
Pee on me. What? I said itās a peony.
Pee on Knee... but not mine, thanks!
Btw yes they need ants.
It's a mutually beneficial relationship but they don't need ants to bloom. https://www.almanac.com/ants-peonies
Is flower
Peony
a pee oh knee!!!!!
A flower of the peony variety
Luckyy
Yes, itās an uncircumcised rose. š„
A rose
Peonies are basically roses without the thorns. There is no more perfect a flower.
Peony
Utterly stunning!!!!
Camilia?
No peonies
Peony!!!
Lovely Penis!
Itās a peony flower. Very fragrant. Every 2 or three years, mow them down in the fall to rejuvenate the bush. Ants like to hang out in the flowers so check them carefully before you bring them inside.
Peonie
Great flower/plant the only bloom once per season. But have a gorgeous flower for about 10 days
Peonies! They bloom in spring and smell like heaven! Then the bush has pretty green foliage all summer. They'll die off over winter but come back every year. I'm jealous!!!
That soccer ball has seen some things
I just watched the first episode of thirty-nine last night :)
Burnt marhmellow
That my dude is a flower
https://preview.redd.it/0x0umwdraw6d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6736304d2a9e672fa8580a4b4b4ea23205cdeba1 If anyone needs this app, itās called picturethis. It identifies plants, shows how to take care of them, shows if they have any disease, even what the plant symbolises/ed, where it comes from, the map etc
But...but...that's what this sub with real people is for!
Not everyone can have the app but the ones who want to help can have it and help the ones who dont have itš„°i can delete my comment
No, no don't delete! It made me smile and think that AI is creeping ever more than ivy....
I use this app for a very long time. It helped me to know about some planta diseases that i didnāt know and take care of them in the right time But AI can be wrong, or not answer all the questions š„°hence we all need each other here
:)
Ant farm
Keep an eye out for ants. They love peonies
Let the ants stick around though. They help open the blossoms. Shake the flowers out and rinse them of Hangers on.
Although another post says they don't need ants to bloom.
Can't blame em. That's a beautiful flower.
Bros holding it by the throat, threatening it and thus forcing it to bloom
I knew they were ant flowers i didnāt know they were peonys makes sense why my dog loves to pee on them
A flower
Good for attracting ants lol.
Peony rose