I love fernleaf peonies! I can't wait to get my hands on these beautiful pink double fernleafs discussed in this article when they become available. I am sure they wlll cost me more than an arm and a leg, but oh wow, I can't wait for them to come to market.

https://www.peonysociety.eu/pi...

they are gorgeous!

I honestly like the fernleaf hybrids better than the species—only because the species don't perform very well for me here in CO. Hopefully I can grow them better in AL but with all of the humidity and rain I don't know if they'll survive even!
The only 2 true fernleafs that I've been able to grow are the red double and pink single. The red double gets blasted by late storms every single year and the blooms always look crappy. The pink single opens later, not as much cold damage, but it increases so slow I still only get 2-3 blooms/season.
The hybrids though—those grow like crazy. The foliage isn't as delicate looking as the species but the ones that are red tinted I think are just as pretty....

Yes, they don't do well for me either, Liz. You are right about their lack of vigor and slow growth rate, and in some cases declining growth rate to the point of death. But their foliage and rounded mound habit are so cute that I can't help but adore them. I love all their stages of growth, from the time they pop out of the ground and start growing to them blooming and then continue to stay green until they go dormant in the summer. I hope they do better in AL for you. Like you, I still don't get that many blooms from them. The pink one is more robust than the double red. My double red finally croaked this year. I will need to order it again and this time I hope to find a better more suitable spot for it.

Here is the pink one from this spring.

I'm afraid to see what my double red fernleaf root looks like, bet it's smaller than when I got it from Hidden Springs. Agree that the pink single is more robust, also agree that it is such a pretty little plant!

Fernleaf peonies have crazy price fluctuations: I have seen them go for as little as $22/each and as much as $90/each. Present wholesale prices (most if not all are propagated in The Netherlands) are in the $35-50/each range depending on order size.
Differently from Itoh hybrids (remember how much was a Bartzella in the 90's or, hikes!, the 80's?) prices don't seem to have come down much since they started to be commercially available.

The chief problem is that is such a fussy plant: too much sunlight, too little sunlight, too cold of a winter, too wet of a spring, don't like organic mulch, don't like too heavy of a soil... but once you get the growing conditions right it's really a good looking perennial, albeit as Liz said their blooms are severelly affected by Spring weather and, I'll add, the foliage usually dies back by late July already.
If you are used to other kinds of peonies it is surely a shock to grow albeit, I'll add, it's just a case of fussiness and not just being a trash plant like Huang Jin Lung.

I dug my double red fernleaf up today and it didn't look as sad as I expected and actually came out of the super dry garden in one piece. Think it was slightly bigger than when I planted it around 5 years ago and had 6 eyes...wonder how it'll like humid AL??!! At least the soil it'll go into is well draining

Well now I am super nervous about where I am going to put my fernleaf from Fina...hubby says it's all and experiment and I can move it or get a new if it doesn't work out.

I'm not buying any fern leaf peony. I have hard enough time with regular peonies, so far I manage to get one or two from Costco to flower.

ElPolloDiablo said:

The chief problem is that is such a fussy plant: too much sunlight, too little sunlight, too cold of a winter, too wet of a spring, don't like organic mulch, don't like too heavy of a soil... but once you get the growing conditions right it's really a good looking perennial, albeit as Liz said their blooms are severelly affected by Spring weather and, I'll add, the foliage usually dies back by late July already.
If you are used to other kinds of peonies it is surely a shock to grow albeit, I'll add, it's just a case of fussiness and not just being a trash plant like Huang Jin Lung.

Totally agree and very well said. These fernleafs are definitely fussy but I know they can thrive when the condition is right. I just need to find it or make it happen in my garden.

Liz, that's great! Your fernleaf root is in a lot better shape than mine! Six eyes with a root is way better than no plant at all.

Sandsock said:Well now I am super nervous about where I am going to put my fernleaf from Fina...hubby says it's all and experiment and I can move it or get a new if it doesn't work out.

I bet the first human who transplanted a young fig tree near his village or who sown the first handful of einkorn seeds felt the same way.

And remember you cannot be more nervous than I am when asking somebody out.

ElPollo,
My husband used the "you would really be helping me, I have to go to this ball and need a date, we could do something fun afterward..." Of course, we had to get together a number of times in order to be ready for the ball and one thing led to another...by the time of the ball we were steadily dating...

Now I refuse to go to the balls because they are lectures in full costume and my husband and I do something fun instead. Sometimes it has even been looking at plants!

Sandsock said:ElPollo,
My husband used the "you would really be helping me, I have to go to this ball and need a date, we could do something fun afterward..." Of course, we had to get together a number of times in order to be ready for the ball and one thing led to another...by the time of the ball we were steadily dating...

Now I refuse to go to the balls because they are lectures in full costume and my husband and I do something fun instead. Sometimes it has even been looking at plants!

I am 44, hence a little too old to attend balls. And besides I am about the worst dancer this side of Alpha Centauri.
And if you want to know why I am always so nervous, listen to Electric Sky by Crucified Barbara.