How to pair peonies?

In a colourful mixed border

Japanese peonies and Chinese peonies integrate beautifully into mixed borders with other perennials, as long as they have enough space. So, do not crowd the plants and consider their dimensions at ripeness.

Here again, feel free to grow campanulas, as well as structural delphiniums. Their flowering in the same shades of pink, white, or blue will blend wonderfully. Add the flowers of iris, the majestic clusters of lupins or foxgloves to add even more height. Complete with bushy nepetas for volume, as well as some columbines.

On the annual side, consider wildflower daisies, pinks, and sages.

Add spring bulb plants, such as allium with its flowering pom-poms, the essential daffodils, crocuses, or hyacinths.

For lightness, also install some grasses: a small groundcover sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’) and the colourful exotic style of New Zealand flax, in regions where winters do not drop below -8°C to -10°C.

In the background, as a backdrop, install a beautiful climbing rose or a clematis.

Chinese peonies, delphiniums, iris, and Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’ create a vibrant flowerbed of colours

In a border with very long flowering

For a flower bed that blooms for many months, combine peonies with summer and then autumn flowering plants, which will take over. This way, your flower bed will be in bloom almost all year round.

First, think of summer bushes, such as lavenders, ceanothus, Siberian sages or Buddleias. Hibiscus syriacus will also add a stunning splash of colour for weeks, with their ephemeral flowers renewing almost continuously.

Again, you can also rely on roses, by choosing repeat flowering varieties that will bloom almost continuously until the first frosts. For the front of the bed, opt for groundcover roses. In the middle of the bed, bush roses with clustered flowers will be perfect candidates.

Add veronicas, echinaceas, asters, Japanese anemones and the essential hardy geraniums. For lightness, choose filipendulas with their airy flowering. Try long-flowering daylilies, such as the cultivar ‘Everydaylily Rose’, which blooms generously for nearly 5 months from June to October. Consider possibly the vibrant petunias (‘Cascadias’, ‘Surfinia’ or ‘Supertunias’).

Complete with bulbous plants, such as dahlias with their infinite choice of shapes or Crocosmias.

Dress the back of the bed with a lovely climber, such as Solanum.

For foliage, choose Heucheras, Carex and Pennisetum.

In terms of colours, we recommend choosing a dominant colour or two complementary ones, which can change with the seasons. You can add a few subtle touches of other colours, as well as white flowers to lighten the overall effect.

Combine Peonies, Hibiscus syriacus, Hemerocallis ‘Everydaylily Rose’ and dahlias ‘Magenta star’ to extend flowering in the garden

In a scented garden

In addition to their generous flowering, some peonies reward us with a sweet fragrance. This is the case, for example, with the common peony Paeonia officinalis (‘Rosea Plena’ or ‘Rubra Plena’), herbaceous peonies Paeonia lactiflora, as well as some shrub peonies (‘10 Lu Mu Ying Yu’).

They will thus be very well suited for use in a scented garden. By staggering the flowering times, you can enjoy pleasant fragrances almost all year round.

In spring, pair the peonies with a Burkwood viburnum, with notes of orange blossom. You can also opt for a Mexican orange blossom or a mock orange.

In summer, it will be the turn of the fragrant flowers of common jasmine and Bunge’s clerodendron.

In autumn, it will finally be the must-have sasanqua camellias that will reward us with their fragrances, right up to the gates of winter.

Paeonia officinalis ‘Rosea Plena’, Viburnum burkwoodii, and Jasminum officinale will blend their fragrances delightfully!

In the gentle shade

In a semi-shaded situation, opt for tree peonies or Itoh peonies. Use them in hedges or at the edge of a grove, in soil that remains consistently moist.

The tree peony will be perfect in a hedge with other bushes. Play with contrasts and highlight, for example, the deep pink flowering of Paeonia suffruticosa ‘08 Juan Ye Hong’ alongside the refined Gardenia jasminoides ‘Perfumed Petticoats’. Add a Rhododendron ‘Virginia Richards’.

In another colour harmony, pair the green-cream flowers of ‘10 Lu Mu Ying Yu’ with an Aralia nudicaulis for a lovely light and airy spring hedge. If you have space, add a Cornus ascona or a Magnolia officinalis ‘Biloba’, both flowering in white-cream.

The Itoh peony, on the other hand, will blend well with masterworts and Siberian irises. For example, try a combination of the peony ‘Itoh Morning Lilac’, the masterwort ‘Sunningdale Variegated’, and the Siberian iris ‘Not Quite White’. Also consider columbines and lady’s mantle. Finally, complete with the decorative foliage of Hosta.

Itoh peony ‘Garden Treasure’, columbines, masterworts, and Hostas thrive in light shade