I've been watching the peony space evolve for over a decade, and what's happening right now genuinely excites me. But I keep seeing growers lose their crop to the same problem — and it's one that's entirely preventable with the right plan.
So I wrote something down.
What the hard years taught me
When I first planted peonies more than ten years ago, I didn't know what I was doing. The real education came from the hard seasons — the spring freezes that wiped out crops for growers across the region, the years I had to make hard decisions about what to plant based on what I could actually manage.
Here's what I came to understand: peonies are tougher than we give them credit for, but our crop plans have to be smarter.
Two catastrophic spring freezes in recent years hammered growers across the Northeast, including 2026. In 2023, orchards lost up to 90% of their crops. Vineyards lost 40%. And flower farmers weren't spared — some lost more than half of their peonies. Buds form, temperatures plunge into the low 20s°F, and suddenly you're looking at bud blast and flowers you can't sell. It's brutal.
What I've watched actually work
The growers who came through those seasons without losing everything had one thing in common: they'd staggered their bloom seasons across varieties.
Yes, some of their crop still took a hit. But when early-season varieties got caught in a freeze, their mid- and late-season plants came through. That's the difference between a rough spring and a devastating one — between a setback and a business-threatening loss.
Staggering your bloom season isn't complicated, but it does require intentional planning before you put a single root in the ground.
A free resource to help you plan
I put together a free Google Doc — my best peony crop planning strategy for 2026, organized by bloom season so you can actually use it to build your crop plan. It's the same approach that's helped me protect Tanglebloom from these freezes year after year.
It's a reference chart you can screenshot, print, or share with other growers who need it.
Read the 2026 Peony Planning Guide →
If something in it sparks a question or an idea, I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below or drop me a note.