Enhance Your Peony Garden: Discover 9 Flawless Companion Plants for Dazzling Appeal and Hues
Eye-Popping Peony Companions
Growing peonies is a delightful experience, but choosing the perfect companion plants can elevate your flower garden to new heights. Here are some stunning peony companions that complement their colors, textures, and cultural needs.
Picking Your Peony Pals
To select the best companions for your peonies, consider the conditions in your garden, such as their preference for sunlight, water, and soil fertility. Both plant size and thematic or color schemes are essential factors too. Choose complementing or contrasting hues, like the gentle indigo of lavender, bold black flora, or radiant white borders.
Under, In-Between, and Over Companions
Plants can serve different purposes in your peony garden:
- Under Plants: These shrubs help shade soil, prevent weeds, and conserve moisture.
- In-Between: Larger specimens play a focal role within your flower beds, adding color and height.
- Over Plants: Taller varieties showcase their beauty above other plants, adding dimension.
Peony Partner Profiles
1. Allium
Blooming around the same time, various allium species make fantastic companions for peonies, attracting pollinators with their large, purple blooms. Visual interest is further enhanced when larger varieties rise above the foliage in mixed beds and borders. Popular varieties for peonies include 'Gladiator,' 'Purple Sensation,' and 'Serendipity.' Most alliums should thrive in USDA zones 3-9.
2. Azalea
Azaleas are often paired with peonies as they share similar cultural needs, creating beautiful, flowering bushes. These plants' combined bloom times add additional appeal to mixed beds. Azaleas, available in shades of pink or red, complement peonies well. Wide varieties, like 'Girards Fuchsia,' 'Karen,' and 'Gibraltar,' make good companions, while dwarf types blend nicely in combined displays. Hardy USDA zones for azaleas are typically 6-9.
3. Foxglove
Foxglove's biennial flowers can add dramatic interest to peony gardens. Attracting pollinators while toxic to touch, they are great companions for peonies. The unique combination of flower and foliage adds beauty through the summer. Popularfoxglove varieties for peonies include 'Apricot Beauty,' 'Purple Carousel,' and 'Snow Thimble.' Foxglove plants are hardy to USDA zones 4-9.
4. Hosta
Hostas make excellent companions for underplanting, providing interest at ground level, suppressing weeds, and enhancing beds. Their glossy, patterned foliage adds appeal throughout the summer as the plants come into bloom. Some popular hosta varieties for peonies include 'American Sweetheart,' 'Blackjack,' and 'Cup of Grace.' These plants perennialize best in USDA zones 3-8.
5. Hydrangea
Hydrangeas and peonies make a lovely pair due to their staggered bloom times, allowing for a captivating display through the summer. More so, with the right selection, these plants can create a harmonious, monochromatic garden. Popular hydrangea varieties for peonies are 'Blushing Bride,' 'Endless Revolution,' and 'Wedding Gown.' Hydrangeas are hardy in USDA zones 3-9.
6. Larkspur
Hardy Annuals like larkspur make beautiful companions for peonies, as they bloom all summer and can be sown directly into prepared beds in early spring or fall. Their tall flower spikes add height to beds, helping to suppress early-season weeds. Soft blue, purple, or white larkspur varieties, like 'Misty Lavender,' 'Fancy Smokey Eyes,' and 'Pink Queen,' are especially lovely in peony beds. Larkspur is hardy to USDA zones 4-9.
7. Lavender
Both lavender and peony plants are cherished for their charming fragrance and visual appeal. Good drainage will be crucial for growing lavender, with an emphasis on regulating soil moisture and providing bright sun. 'Munstead,' available in the our platform Shop, is a standout fragrant lavender variety. Other intriguing aromatic varieties include 'Hidcote' and 'Provence' lavenders. Lavender is most likely to perennialize in USDA zones 5-9.
8. Lilac
Sharing similar cultural needs, lilac and peony shrubs work well together in mixed beds. Larger lilac varieties can add height in borders. As their bloom times often coincide, this pairing allows for a stunning rush of colors and fragrance. Popular lilac varieties include 'President Lincoln,' 'Declaration,' and 'Sensation.' Most lilacs are hardy in USDA zones 3-8.
9. Rose
Romantic rose varieties work well alongside peonies, adding color, fragrance, and beauty to borders. Climbing, rambling, and shrub roses create various heights and shapes, often blooming simultaneously with peony shrubs. Urban gardeners can find lovely, easy-to-grow rose varieties like 'Earth Angel,' 'Claire Austin,' and 'Queen of Sweden' in the our platform Shop. Roses should thrive in USDA zones 5-8.
- Consider incorporating lavender (a home-and-garden plant known for its calming fragrance and gentle indigo blooms) as an under plant in your peony garden, creating a captivating scent and visual experience when paired with the vibrant peonies.
- In the search for the perfect companions for your peonies, take a moment to examine the charming lilac shrubs, sharing similar cultural needs, that can elevate your home-and-garden lifestyle with their striking blooms and fragrance, complementing those of the peonies in mixed borders.
