While herbaceous peonies produce flowers with long stems ideal for cutting, the flowers of tree peonies are not really suitable as cut flowers and some foresight is necessary to cut them so as to not compromise the shrub’s future growth. The goal is to protect the axillary bud which will lead to the growth of the plant by way of new branches and flowers the following year. The right place to cut the flowers is just above the highest axillary bud to avoid eliminating the sprouts of the following year. In the case of herbaceous peonies, their being annual/perennials without woody branches, they can be cut at any stem height, even at ground level.
