Just moved to a home with at least 5 peonies, that I can see coming up already. It has been over 40 years since I grew peonies. What are the current thoughts on stakes? Are some better than others? Do you have a good brand/style you can share? Thanks.

green tomato cages from Lowe's or Home Depot work great and are inexpensive.

Good idea, thanks.

If the tomato cages are too tall a bolt cutter works great to size them. Another popular method is stakes and twine, Google the Hildine star, lots of people swear by it.

I usually cut the bottom section off of the cage. It can be used also as a separate single ring support.

I wish I knew the varieties, there are five but one is very slow coming up. They may be all different and who knows if they are tall or shorter ones. The previous owner just plunked things everywhere. I just found a circle of glads coming up around a small dogwood in a woody (shady) spot.

Not all peonies need staking. If they're coming up really early for your area they're probably a species or hybrid herbaceous, most of those stand up pretty well on their own.

Good to know. Having just moved to this house and this part of the country I have no idea if they are early or not but time will tell. If they start to flop I will be ready.