Goodbye, Floppy Peonies: This Tomato Cage Trick Fixes Them Fast

If you're trying to grow full sun perennials for a gorgeous year-round garden, peonies (Paeonia spp.) are likely at the top of your list. With their deep green leaves and large, fluffy flowers, peonies make a lovely addition to most gardens. However, even if you know how to grow peonies, you may see some floppy stems and down-turned flowers. It happens naturally due to how heavy their flowers are, but it isn't particularly pretty. Luckily, you can keep your peonies upright by repurposing a tomato cage and placing it around them.

Tomato cages are designed to stop tomato plants from falling over, and they'll work just as well for your peonies. The stems and flowers can rest against the frame of the tomato cage, allowing them to stay upright without a ton of extra effort or expense. While there are peony-specific cages and stakes, tomato cages are readily available, affordable, and easy to modify. If you've grown tomatoes in the past, you may even already have a few cages ready to go.

Tomato cages can vary, but there are a few specific things to look for. If you're using one you already have, check for damage and heavy rust. You don't want to use a cage that will fall apart and leave your peonies hanging. When buying a new tomato cage, consider the type and number of peonies you have in your garden and what height it will grow to. Most peonies only grow a couple feet tall, and while tree peonies can grow quite a bit taller they generally don't need extra support. Taller peonies, like herbaceous peonies that can grow up to 4 feet, are the ones that typically need support. If you have multiple plants, a taller cage that can be used to make multiple supports is ideal. 

Start by using wire or bolt cutters to clip the cage into sections. Each section needs at least one horizontal ring to support the flowers and vertical wire stretching away from it to serve as legs. They should also be roughly a foot wide to give the peony ample room to grow. If you have some narrower sections near the end of your tomato cage, you can repurpose or recycle them. Place the straight vertical wires into the soil around your peony plant at the start of the growing season and push it down so that the circle sits at roughly just below the height of your peonies. You'll likely need to adjust it as the peony grows since it's impossible to predict exactly how tall they'll get.

While your peony support is technically done, there are a few other things you can adjust to make it a better fit for your garden. If your tomato cage is looking rough and you want to dress it up, you can cover it in a layer of outdoor paint. Just be sure to paint it on a tarp or dropcloth so you don't get paint on your peonies. You could also try making these DIY tomato cages and adjust the height to better fit peonies.

You can also offer your peonies more support. Peony supports often have grids to hold the stems upright and provide an extra resting place for the flowers. You can use wire, cord, or twine to create a similar grid across the top of the ring. However, this will only work if your peonies are still small. Once they've bloomed, the flowers won't fit through the grid, so you'll need to rely on just the cage.