Simple DIY Peony Supports

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Making your own DIY Peony supports is a quick and easy springtime project! Over the last few years, I have planted over 20 peonies. Last year they were getting big enough to need supports, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money buying the pre-made supports for peonies ($10-$20 per support!). I decided to push it off a year. This spring they are popping up and are definitely more established and growing quickly (even though as I’m writing they are still under a couple inches of snow!)

I was out in my barn last week and happened to look at some tomato cages that I’ve been storing. I suddenly had a revelation! Tomato cages would make great peony supports! I no longer use them for tomatoes since they always seem to tip over in our sandy soil under the weight of the tomato plants.

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I decided to test out my idea. I found some old welded wire fencing, some wire cutters, and went to work! (I’ll include links to supplies, but hopefully you have some of these at home! And you might be able to find them cheaper at your local farm store!)

Here’s the process…

Gather your supplies

• Tomato Cages
• Wire Fencing (Just for reference – hopefully you have some on hand!)
• Wire Cutters
• Leather Gloves (I did bare-handed, but hindsight I probably would wear gloves!)

The tomato cages I had were 3 tiered, so I was able to get 3 peony stands out of each. You want the holes in your wire fencing to be large enough that the peonies can easily grow up through and spread out a little (you don’t want to use chicken wire, etc.)

Cut the Tomato Cages

This part was a little tricky as the gauge of the wire was thick. I found that twisting my wire cutters back and forth worked well, and then ‘snapping’ the wire by bending it was the most efficient way. Mind you, your hands will get sore after a while!

Cut the Fencing

I laid the fencing over the round part of the new peony support and cut it slightly larger so that I could bend the edges over to secure it.

Wrap the fencing on the new ‘support’

I wrapped my ‘corners’ around the tomato cage and also had cut some of the wire halfway between the squares so I could use it to secure the edges. Hopefully that makes sense!

If you love perennial flowers, you can also check out my post on Growing Great Chrysanthemums!

Place over the peonies

I pushed these as far as I could into the ground and made sure the tips of the peony shoots were above the wire. You don’t want a peony shoot to grow up and hit a wire, then fold over or split in half!

Continue to raise up as they grow

I check the peony supports every day and pull them up as they grow, and boy do they grow fast! Some of your supports will have longer legs than others, so keep that in mind when you’re lifting them!

These peony supports were an easy DIY project. It took me several hours, but I was able to soak up some sun rays and chat with my kiddos while I was working on them. I’ll update this post as the peonies grow!

Till next time…happy trails!

Tiffany