Episode 36: Solving A Peony Problem

About This Episode

In this episode of Ask Grumpy, Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener, answers a reader’s question on a problem with peonies. Plus,Grumpy’s plant of the week.

Question Of The Week

My grandmother's peonies have had a white film growing on the leaves for the past three years. We live in Oklahoma. Can you suggest something to clear this up?

This is a very common problem with peonies. It usually doesn't show up until after they finish blooming, and it shows up in the summer and this is a fungus. It's called powdery mildew and grows on top of the leaves and it makes them just look ugly. The good thing about it is it's not gonna kill your peonies. But if you've got peonies with no flowers and ugly leaves, you don't want to have them around. So what you need to do is spray with a fungicide before the powdery mildew shows up, and I would suggest you use a fungicide. It's a natural fungicide, very safe to use. It's called neem oil and you mix it up according to label directions and spray it on the healthy foliage and that will stop powdery mildew from growing. Now, let's say that you haven't got to your plants fast enough and they're already covered with the mildew. What you want to do is come the fall, you want to cut down all that foliage and throw it out with the trash. Don't leave it there in the garden because that will just have more disease spores lying in the soil waiting to wake up and infect your plants.

Plant Of The Week

Butterfly Bush

The Plant of the Week is Butterfly Bush and it's a very popular shrub because it has flowers that start off in the spring and it blooms all the way through the summer and it has lots of different colors. Reds and pinks and blues and purples and white. And it's very attracted to pollinators like butterflies. So that's why it's called butterfly bush. There's a couple things that are wrong with it though:

1. First of all, the old types, they get really kind of big and they're not a graceful plant. They're kind of a gangly plant that just kind of like grows in all directions. Some of them get pretty tall and they mix up their flowers between the ones that are new and fresh and the ones that are old and brown, so you have both of them on the plant at the same time. It's not that attractive a sight.
2. Also, when the flowers turn brown, they're developing lots of seeds in there. And so you get lots of seedlings and in some places in the country butterfly bush is considered an invasive plant and you're not even supposed to sell it there. And so whenever I mention it in Southern Living, I get lots of angry mail and emails.

You can have your butterfly bush without all the problems. Now, there's a new kind of butterfly bush. There's some dwarf series out there. One is called Flutter by. There's another one called the Pugster series, and they don't really get big and gangly like the other ones. They grow two to three feet tall. And they have big flower spikes. Even though they're kind of dwarf plants, the flower spikes are just as big as the large growing ones. They come in colors of blue or pink or white, light purple and deep purple. They don't need pruning like the big ones do, so you don't have to worry about pruning off all those brown flowers. And also, for those of you who are worried about butterfly bush being invasive, the Pugsters are seedless so they have no seedlings, so you don't have to worry about them spreading throughout your entire garden, your neighbor's yard and the entire countryside.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 20 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.