Peony seeds are usually difficult to find commercially. But the seeds of some types of peony can be found here and there in online shops. However, you also have the option of harvesting the seeds yourself if peonies are already growing in the garden.
How do you grow peonies from seeds?
Harvest peony seeds when the foliage turns reddish and sow immediately. Fill a seed tray with loose, sandy soil and sow several seeds flatly. Place the tray outdoors in autumn, keep it moderately moist and prick out the seedlings in spring. The first flowering lasts 5 to 10 years.
Seed ripening time and harvest
Peony seeds are usually ripe when the plant's foliage gradually turns reddish. This happens long after the flowering period, around late summer. You shouldn't wait too long to harvest the seeds! The ripe follicles burst open and the seeds can easily fall out.
The ability to germinate dries up
Since the seeds quickly lose their ability to germinate (especially if they dry out significantly), it is best to sow them immediately. You should store them at most until next spring! Therefore, commercial seeds are not particularly recommended for sowing.
External characteristics of seeds
The fresh seeds are plump, shiny, dark brown to black in color. Their shape is difficult to describe. Every seed is unique. As a rule, they are partly rounded and partly angular. The corners are rounded and there are indentations.
Growing peonies from seeds
Sowing peonies is not for the impatient. On the one hand, it sometimes takes up to 2 years for the seeds to germinate. On the other hand, it can take 5 to 10 years until the first flowering occurs. You should therefore carefully consider sowing as a method of propagation!
The optimal time for sowing has come in autumn, immediately after the seeds have been harvested. Attention: The seeds are cold germinators and are only stimulated to germinate after a cold period of several weeks. You can do this even without a refrigerator!
This is the easiest way to sow:
- Fill the seed tray with loose, sandy soil
- sow multiple seeds flatly
- Put seed trays outside
- keep moderately moist
- in spring: prick out as soon as germination has occurred
- place in a partially shaded location
- plant in autumn
Tip
The leaves that first emerge from the soil are not the cotyledons. These are the first real leaves. The cotyledons are underground.