Remember this trick for the next time you want to cut peonies from your garden to bring inside! Here’s a neat way to get ants off cut peonies.
This is just the best trick. I was so amazed when I tried it the first time. Peony season is short and our supply is plentiful here thanks to many peonies that we’ve planted all around the property, so I definitely always like to take the opportunity to bring some 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, 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 bloom, 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 cut peonies.
Removing Ants Off Cut Peonies
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, someone 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 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 them, and you don’t need them inhaling insecticide at a close range like that. Especially not now that you have this trick!
So here’s what you do to get ants off cut 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. 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!
Pictured Above: Similar Vase | Mirror | Table | Similar Framed Print
Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
Do you have another trick for how to get ants off cut peonies that works for you?
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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.