Every peony season—a short, glorious window from early May to late June—those who grow and buy bouquets of this luxurious flower will inevitably notice a gathering of ants on the buds. Take to the internet and you’ll find any number of competing explanations, including one alleging that the insects help a peony bloom. So what’s the deal with ants and peonies? To get to the bottom of this common gardening query, I turned to the only flower farmer with whom I am on a first-name basis: my mom.
On a small farm in western New Jersey—a stone’s throw from where Washington crossed the Delaware River—my mother, Anna, grows a little over six hundred peony plants. While most of them get sold in brown paper bundles for a late-spring soiree or purchased by florists, plenty make their way inside our home, where I inevitably find the occasional black speck marching along the bookshelf or crawling on a side table.
I called on her master gardener knowledge and extensive library of peony literature to address the ant enigma. “It’s the number one reservation people have when bringing peonies indoors,” she said. After corralling the guinea hens and loading a batch of freshly cut stems onto the farm stand, she gave me the scoop.
First things first: “Peonies will open up with or without ants.” Ants are always on the hunt for something sweet, she explained, and just so happen to find what they’re looking for on peony buds. The flower’s sepals—protective green segments that keep the petals held tight while the peony is still a bud—secrete a sugary sap ants can’t resist. Because the buds open quickly, the insects tend to get lost in the abundant petals and accidentally end up in your bouquet.
While it may be a myth that ants are essential to a peony’s life cycle, the two make a great pair. “It’s actually a mutually beneficial relationship,” my mom said. “The ants feed off of the peony’s nectar while also protecting it from threats like beetles and other insects.” So while they might seem like a blight on your romantic blooms, ants can in fact help the plant stay healthy and intact.
For those who relish peony season but are ant-averse, she suggests giving the blooms a quick dunk in a bucket of water before tucking them into a vase. You may still find a straggler or two, but don’t fear inviting an infestation—those that do make it inside will be more concerned with consuming what’s left of the sap and so few in number they’re unlikely to draw a small army to your kitchen counter. As my mom said, “It would be such a shame to miss out on the splendor of peonies just because of a few ants.”
