Peony won't flower!

Klink

I planted a peony about ten years ago now and it STILL refuses to flower fully. Two years ago it finally got a couple of buds for which i had great hopes but alas the ants made a meal of them and they ended up sticky and didn't open.I talked sternly to it and last year it made a feeble attempt to produce another couple of flowers,again they failed to impress.

I have tried all sorts of things to get it to flower.It produces a very fine display of red leaves but not much else.It grows close to a conifer and daffodils - I wondered if there was any connection there?

Sorry this is a bit long winded but i'd really love to have at least one peony in my garden,so if anyone can advise... 

chicky

I know they say they refuse to flower if they are planted too deeply - but not sure this is it if yours are producing buds.  Have you tried feeding it with anything?

Klink

I resorted to feeding it,to exposing the tuber more and finally,the year before it attempted to flower and produced the first buds,I cut all of the foliage back with the ultimatum that it either flowered the following year or out it came.It flowered feebly but it's now on borrowed time

Dovefromabove

Paeonies like sunshine - is the conifer shading it?  

Another thought, if it's making buds but not flowering, is the conifer drying the soil out too much? Ants aren't keen on damp soil so that might indicate that it's a bit dry.  When the paeony is budding up that is the time that it needs plenty of water so make sure the soil is moist when buds are filling out.

Good luck 

Fairygirl

Klink- Paeonies do prefer a bit of moisture and conifers suck the life out of everything around them so it sounds like that could be the reason! A move to a better position is probably the best answer. 

Klink

Ah thanks for that.I did wonder if the conifer might be part of the problem.It's not shading the peony but it might well be taking up a lot of moisture.I'll give extra watering another try.