Refrigerate Peony Buds for Months of Blooms
-
June 14, 2025 6:23 AM EDT
Today I’m sharing something I tried for the first time ever – how to refrigerate peony buds for months of blooms.
And, as a bonus, at the end of this post I’ll share some amazing varieties with you that you may or may not have heard of before!
What prompted me to try refrigerating peony buds was the fact that my mother’s peonies were in full bloom just as we were scrambling to get her packed up and moved.
I knew we were SO busy and overwhelmed with moving that there was no way we could fully enjoy their fleeting beauty.
I’ve read about this technique before, as a way to temporarily hold them in limbo for up to 8 weeks, so we picked loads to take with us and experimented away.
I was thrilled with the results!
Here are just a few of the peonies six weeks after refrigerating them in April.
In this bouquet, I intentionally added other summer-blooming flowers (agapanthus and phlox) to prove that they did, indeed, last until July!
Once the dust settled from the big move, it was so meaningful to have one last bouquet of my mother’s favorite peonies.
So if you have peonies right now, I highly recommend trying this easy technique to enjoy them over the next few months.
As you’ll see below, the process is quite simple.
1) First and foremost, it’s all about timing and the stage in which you pick the peony buds.
You don’t want to use fully open flowers (like the one, left) as they won’t survive the weeks of chilling, having already spent their energy fully opening up.
You don’t want to use tight buds, either (like the ones below) as they’ll never open once refrigerated.
Just like Goldilocks, you want to pick the opening buds when they’re ‘just right’.
What’s ‘just right‘?
I’ve heard some describe the ideal firmness of the bud to a marshmallow. Which, honestly, is surprisingly accurate.
What I do is take the bud between two fingers and lightly press down with your thumb to see just how dense it feels (left.)
Here’s the exception: When refrigerating a double-flowered variety (like my ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ left), choose buds that are a little more open than single petal varieties.
Also, cut the stem as long as you can, as you’ll need to trim them again when you remove them from the refrigerator.
2) Strip away the leaves and loosely roll the flowers in a layer of paper towels.
I’ll leave one or two leaves at the top, but basically you don’t want the foliage to rob the flower of its precious energy.
The paper towels should be dry to absorb any and all moisture.
Moisture is the ENEMY of this process, resulting in a most unfortunate surprise when you pull them out (ie: mushy, rotting flowers!)
3) Gently cover the flower heads & stems with two plastic bags.
Carefully tie both of the bags closed. Again, the goal is to prevent moisture from getting inside and ruining the flowers.
I placed my flowers in my refrigerator’s vegetable bin, and they were perfect when I pulled them out 6-weeks later.
When it’s time to remove them, trim the stems at least 2-3 inches before placing in a vase.
Sit back, and enjoy!
Here are some of my favorite varieties that do well in my zone-9 garden
If you live in a hot and dry area, like my zone-9 garden, it can be a little trickier to grow peonies.
Peonies like a fair amount of moisture and don’t want full afternoon sun or they’ll burn.
And on top of these requirements, they require a bit of winter chill. Something my winters usually can’t provide.
However, it can be done!
My peonies are on the same irrigation schedule as the rest of my garden, receiving water twice a week (or sometimes three times a week during the hottest months.)
If it’s super hot for weeks on end, I might give them an extra bit of water, but honestly I usually forget and they’ve fared just fine.
‘Felix Crousse’
My all-time favorite peony is ‘Felix Crousse’, which was a division from my mother’s garden.
As you can see, it’s a prolific bloomer with pillowy-soft, vibrant, dark magenta blooms.
In fact, several years ago, I posted this photo on Facebook (left) and polled people about whether they liked the pink/orange combination or not?
I received SO MANY comments that were split down the middle between the lovers and the haters.
There’s something about pink and orange that seems to send some people over the edge!
Personally, I love this color combo and don’t think it clashes at all.
If you look at the color wheel (left) you can see the purple/pink color is adjacent to the reddish-orange colors (aka: analogous.)
Analogous colors typically include groups of three that are next to one another on the color wheel. The result is a harmoniously pleasing combination.
Even so, people still seem to have a strong reaction combining pink and orange!
Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’
My second favorite peony is ‘Sarah Bernhardt.’
Quite honestly, she’d tie for 1st place except in my garden she’s taken her sweet time to get established.
Apparently this is common when dividing peonies (sometimes taking up to 5 years!) but since Felix didn’t waste a moment giving me tons of blooms, he wins 1st place.
The huge, full, double-form flowers are the softest pink imaginable and are the epitome of elegance.
When I cup a bloom in my hand, it’s like holding a little bird – it’s that light and soft.
In my garden, I particularly like surrounding the dark green leaves with the soft, velvety foliage of senecio ‘Silver Gleam’ (left.)
There’s so many ways to echo or contrast ‘Sarah Bernhardt’s’ soft colors.
For example, in my mother’s garden, she created a vibrant, contrasting pink color echo by placing a towering weigela ‘French Lace’ behind the peony.
In the example (left) both ‘Felix Crousse’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ are planted near the chartreuse foliage and bright pink flowers of a spirea ‘Goldflame.’
The result is a long-lasting, eye-popping spring combination.
In another part of the garden, a much softer color echo is created by combining the creamy white blooms of a climbing ‘Sally Holmes’ rose with the ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ (below.)
Itoh Peonies ‘Creme a l’orange’
Over the past few years, I’ve fallen in love with Itoh peonies (named for the man who bred them, Dr. Toichi Itoh.)
In a nutshell, Itoh peonies (also called intersectionals) share qualities of both the tree and herbaceous peony varieties.
They’re vigorous growers with profuse and oversized flowers (sometimes blooming twice!) with lush, deeply-lobed foliage.
Their stems also seem more substantial than other peonies and don’t require as much staking as other peonies do (a plus in heavy rain!)
‘Crème a l’orange’ (left) has thrived under the oak trees in my garden.
Its flower has the most exceptional colors, in shades of soft apricot and orange. A heavy bloomer, the flowers last for three to four weeks, beginning mid-April.
My Itoh peonies bloom much earlier than regular peonies, starting in early April and lasting through May.
You can see how I’ve created an orange color echo between the peony blooms and the sterile variety of berberis ‘Orange Rocket’ in the distance.
Itoh Peonies ‘Canary Brilliants’
This is a newer Itoh peony addition to my garden and is one with a very unusual flower.
When it first opens, the double-form flower is in soft shades of peach and apricot – for about a week.
But then (seemingly overnight) it turns into a buttery yellow color with no hints of peach at all.
Take a look below at the same plant, one week apart – it looks like an entirely different flower, doesn’t it?
I guess the word ‘canary’ should’ve tipped me off!
I’ve planted ‘Canary Brilliants’ near a drift of carex ‘Everillo’ to echo its bright chartreuse colors.
As most peonies can easily become top-heavy when laden with blooms, I place these plant supports (from Gardener’s Supply) over the top of the newly-emerging plants.
While there’s less-expensive versions available elsewhere, they’re not nearly as sturdy, easily bending when trying to stick them in the ground.
Within just a few weeks the foliage quickly hides the rings, providing a summer’s worth of support.
I also use these supports with lots of other perennials in my garden, too, such as verbena bonariensis, solidago ‘Firecracker, amsonnia, coreopsis, etc.
Peony ‘Chinese Dragon’
Be still my heart!
I recently spotted this tree peony at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, and just about passed out when I saw it also had chocolate-colored foliage.
Covered with giant dark crimson blooms, this peony was the star of the garden.
If you’d like to read a great article from the New York Botanic Garden about how to grow tree peonies (which aren’t actually trees, but large shrubs) click here.
Alas, tree peonies don’t do well in my zone-9 garden as they want more shade and more water (not to mention cooler winter temps.)
Paeonia suffruticosa ‘Age of Gold’
Also spotted at the Bellevue Botanical Garden was this ‘Age of Gold’ tree peony.
It’s cheery yellow blooms and bright green, oversized foliage are the perfect thing to brighten up a shady garden.
Even when those amazing peony flowers are a thing of the past, I appreciate the oversized, dark green foliage that remains intact throughout my long, hot summers.
The plants rarely wilt in the heat and provide a lush atmosphere.
AND, did I mention they’re deer-resistant, too?
And once the cooler temps of fall finally arrive, many varieties reward you all over again with another burst of color.
For more information about peonies, click here for Margaret Roach’s informative interview with peony expert, Jeff Jabco.
And if you love ball-shaped flowers as much as I do, click here to see more of my favorites.
BONUS: Peony TULIPS
And finally, here’s a bouquet of flowers that look like peonies, but they’re not!
They’re peony tulips and are probably the most gorgeous tulips I’ve ever seen.
They not only lasted for 2 weeks in a vase, but take a peek below to see how they dried.
Yes, dried!
Isn’t this incredible?
After the 3rd week or so, I noticed the tulips were drying in place, with absolutely stunning variations in color.
The pink color migrated to the edges of each petal, where it’s remained, drying in place for an eye-stopping arrangement.
People can’t believe what they’re seeing when I tell them these are dried tulips!
I’ve never tried this with other varieties, but you can bet I’m going to next spring!
June 14, 2025 6:53 AM EDTYour guide to gardening, homesteading, soil health, and sustainable living. Recent Posts organic gardening