Sacrifices must be made

[spinbaby]

The gardener who lived in this house before me liked to go to the garden center and buy lots and lots of plants and decorative doodads, which she arranged in ways she found attractive without regard to the plants’ growing preferences. But even this habit can’t really explain why I now have a peony inside a lilac bush under a magnolia tree.

The lilac hasn’t bloomed, but the peony bravely put out two blossoms this spring and they are a particularly nice deep purple and very fragrant. I considered the logistics of levering the peony out of there, but decided to just cut the lilac down to the ground and mulch over it, giving the peony more light and air. Sacrifices must be made.

[WhiteTara]

1. the roots of the magnolia must be swallowing

roots of both the peony and lilac. You might be able to move the peony this fall after the leaves have died back. Bye bye lilac.

[spinbaby]

2. Probably not

The peony is just inside the drip line of the tree. With the lilac gone, it should be okay. Peonies hate to be moved and it’s sitting in a tangle of roots. I’ll just give it a light feeding and leave it alone.

[WhiteTara]

3. sacrifices must be made!

Happy gardening.

[flying_wahini]

4. I've heard that peonies hate to be moved.

Seems a terrible shame to cut down the lilac but sometimes that happens.

[hibbing]

5. I've moved two peonies

They seemed to handle it okay. I did go deep to dig out as much as I good in a big clump for each plant. I don't recall if they bloomed after moving, but they are now both huge.

Peace