Just got Yachiyotsubaki from Lowe for 24 dollars and contemplating how to plant it if I have to move it in 2-3 years? Thinking about pot, but I have mostly negative experience trying to overwinter anything in Toronto in the pot, so may be woven grocery shopping bag will do the trick? Thanks!

Plant Grow Bags

I'm interested in any experience anyone has on this subject as well. I have several tree peonies coming this year, can't decide how I want to hold them for our move. Part of me wants to just plant them out on the new land but another says start with something a lot less expensive as an experiment...maybe if we meet the neighbors this fall I'll feel better about it next year. I KNOW my choice won't be pots, though. I agonized about keeping the few tiny Itohs alive for just a couple of months in the garage, know I'd never be able to do it with a bunch of tps. Anything for that long out of the ground is not an option for me.

Alex, I am interested in this too. My first choice would be a growing bag, as Littlebin suggested. I think I saw them at Canadian Tire. I would dig a big hole, and put the bag and the peony in. I also have bad experience with overwintering plants in pots in Toronto, unless that pot is at least 27" wide (and deep.)

@AlexUnder, did you ever decide what to do on this? I'm also interested. I'd like to keep a few peonies in pots over the next couple of years without moving them during the winter. The question is, how to over-winter them?

I'm not as far north as you are, but it does get pretty cold here. I'm in north-central Massachusetts.

We put our new peonies, including tree peonies, in pots (around 18-28" across and 18" deep) then into the ground. We mix a nice compost, perlite, garden soil to plant them in to assure good drainage. We only lost two in spring 2016, replaced by Adelman's. We had a botrytis infestation this year and several small ones were badly affected. I treated them with bleach, along with over half our other peonies and the small ones don't look good. I am hoping they will come back okay next spring. I do not believe that it was due to being in pots.

I didn't want them planted in the ground because, like you, we know we will be moving them into the main gardens within a year or so. I believe some were in pots for two years.

Oberon46 said:We put our new peonies, including tree peonies, in pots (around 18-28" across and 18" deep) then into the ground. We mix a nice compost, perlite, garden soil to plant them in to assure good drainage. We only lost two in spring 2016, replaced by Adelman's. We had a botrytis infestation this year and several small ones were badly affected. I treated them with bleach, along with over half our other peonies and the small ones don't look good. I am hoping they will come back okay next spring. I do not believe that it was due to being in pots.

I didn't want them planted in the ground because, like you, we know we will be moving them into the main gardens within a year or so. I believe some were in pots for two years.

So Mary, they were actually confined to this size pot even though they were buried?

I'd like to plant some roots in pots but I'm concerned about winter. Would they be okay above ground? I'm not in Alaska, but it does get very cold around here in January and February (north-central MA).

Hi Joanna, I ended up planting it in the biggest pot I could find and will replant it this fall directly into soil at the final destination. I would probably planted it in the root control bag if I did not have a nursery tree pot.

AlexUnder said:Hi Joanna, I ended up planting it in the biggest pot I could find and will replant it this fall directly into soil at the final destination. I would probably planted it in the root control bag if I did not have a nursery tree pot.

Was it okay in the pot over the winter?

Today I bought (for $9), a 30 gallon plastic storage container. That should be big enough for a year or two, right?

It did not overwinter in the pot as I only bought TP in spring, but it would probably be fine as long as pot has good drainage and sufficient insulation around roots. I had problems with medium and small pots in the ground as water/ice were accumulating on the top and the drainage was poor so can not comment on Mary Stella overwintering tactics. Personally I would rather go with root bag if you are moving it in 2-3 years time.

AlexUnder said:It did not overwinter in the pot as I only bought TP in spring, but it would probably be fine as long as pot has good drainage and sufficient insulation around roots. I had problems with medium and small pots in the ground as water/ice were accumulating on the top and the drainage was poor so can not comment on Mary Stella overwintering tactics. Personally I would rather go with root bag if you are moving it in 2-3 years time.

So the big question is, if planted in a 30 gallon container, will that be enough insulation for the roots?

I guess it all comes down to the soil you plant in, both in the pots and the ground where the ports are buried. I don't like the idea of pots generally for peonies, but it seemed like a better idea than planting them in the ground and then destroying the newly grown feeder roots the next year. Have been discussing digging up quite of few of the large pink floppy peonies and moving some of the new ones from the research plot. To introduce new colors and forms like Japanese singles and some intersectionals with varigated colors - they bloom later so expand our bloom season.

I moved TP today and it was a killer because it seems that soil was clay-ish and weight a ton. Put it deeper than in the pot as I saw HB roots and eyes are developing, so not sure if any of TP roots actually started yet.