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Remember this trick for the next time you want to cut peonies from your garden to bring inside! Here’s an easy, mess free trick for how to get ants off peonies.
This is just the best trick for when you want to bring a lovely pink peony bouquet indoors. I was so amazed when I tried it the first time. Peony season is short and our supply is plentiful here thanks to many peony plants that we’ve planted all around the property, so I definitely always like to take the opportunity to bring some fragrant blooms inside during this season. I’ve always just shaken the ants off the blooms right after I cut them, and just kind always kind of hoped for the best. There would be a few ants show up here and there on my cut flowers, but it was worth it. One day I went to cut a few particularly full blooms for a vase in the mudroom, as I do every year, and there were a lot of ants hiding under the beautiful flowers, right at the stem. I shook and I shook, but they just weren’t coming off. I thought there definitely had to be a better way. And there is! Here’s my trick for how to get ants off peonies.
More helpful hints for early-spring blooms: How to Keep Cut Lilacs From Wilting
Removing Ants Off Cut Peonies: Don’t do This
It seems there’s always some secret method out there for every problem that you face when you’re trying to care for your home or your garden. Most of the issues that we face aren’t new, and somewhere throughout history, some clever gardener or homeowner has almost always figured out what to do. Sometimes we lose track of these little tricks, so when I learn one, I like to share them and hopefully revive them again a bit. Maybe make all of our lives a little easier?
One thing I’ve heard people say they do that they find really easy is to just spray each bloom and the foliage with a little insecticide before bringing it in the house.
Don’t do that.
The first thing your family members will do when they see the peonies in the vase is walk over and smell their intoxicating fragrance, and you don’t need them inhaling ant control pesticides at a close range like that. Especially not now that you have this trick!
The ants you see on your peonies may be a bit of a nuisance at times, and in other areas of your home they’re definitely seen as pests, but ants on your peonies does not mean that you have an ant problem. You may be surprised to learn that peonies actually need the ants for the blooming process, so these insects are just doing their job. No need to kill them in this situation.
Read next: What to do When You See Yellow Leaves on Roses
How to Get Ants Out of Peonies
Cut your peony blooms as normal. Attempt to shake the ants off and fail like I did. 🙂
Go into the house, go to your paper recycling, and take out a single sheet of newspaper.
Lay it down on the ground and toss your cut peonies down on it. Walk away. Or stay and watch in amazement as the ants slowly start to leave the peonies and walk off the newspaper. There’s just something about the newsprint that they don’t like, apparently. Or maybe they’re actually attracted to the newspaper scent and then they forget all about the peony blooms. Either way, I was amazed at how quickly it started to happen!
When you come back about 30 minutes later, your blooms should be ant free! Plunk them in a vase of water and enjoy!
Garden tips for beautiful shrubs: How to Revive a Sad Looking Hydrangea
Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
IF you do have an actual non-peony ant issue, try my favorite homemade ant killer before you try anything else. It always does the trick for me, inside my home and out in the garden as well.
Do you have another trick for how to get ants off cut peonies that works for you?
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.