AlexUnder said:But I think I should be paying more attention for cut flower qualities when buying new ones.

It sounds like a fine idea, especially if you want to enjoy them indoors. My mom is blind and I should have quite a few good smelling blooms to bring her this year - so being able to give a nice gift is another thing you'd be able to do.

The easiest way to determine what to get is to look at what is for sale. My personal favorite site is: https://www.mypeonysociety.com...

You really have to read the descriptions because they sell some varieties that don't have a long shelf life (any itoh listed is probably 3 days max) or require special treatment (Avis Varner for example) or are only available because they are really early (Athena for example). This is how peonies that I never, ever would have heard of otherwise, such as Boule de Neige, end up on my hunt list

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Alex, I attended one seminar for Alaskan peony farmers and I saw quite a few materials but since I am not interested in farming I did not save them. I know that stem length is one of the most important criteria, should be 3', otherwise peonies are not the 1st grade. Workers who harvest stems int the field sometimes make a mistake and cut the stems too short, the farmers are not happy. Here farmers grow cheap (=old) varieties that can grow on permafrost. Farmers who have fields on a warmer places can grow Coral Charm also. Most popular varieties are Sarah B., Kansas, Duchesse DN. Here you can see others, some are not common at all:
https://www.alaskapeonies.org/...

Thanks for starting this thread, Alex! I have always been interested in using peonies for cutting and if there are extra storing them for use later. The info and posts contributed by everyone in this thread have helped me to think more about what qualities I value most in using peonies for cut flowers. Because I am not growing them for commercial purpose, I probably don't have the same objectives as cut flower producers. But I am always am interested in finding peonies that have potential to be good cut flowers. It would be nice if we all can observe blooms from this years crop, cut some for use as cut flowers, observe their qualities, record the data, and share this data and our observations on this thread. I wasn't able to do this in prior years because I did not have mature bushes to do this. However, I have some well established bushes that I think I can attempt to gather some data this year esp. on the newer varieties. I am going to focus mostly on vase life and storing qualities as these are the most important for my purpose.

You are right, Anya, there way more old varieties on the list. I would say 3ft stem is not important to me and some of the new ones are way shorter. Did not realize you can grow peonies on permafrost.
Karen, I do not expect to start flower business as well but will be tilting more from garden varieties towards cutting ones. I love smell of peonies in the house. Certainly the longevity in the vase is on my priority list. Ordered Mme. Claude Tain, Pink Derby and Ann Cousins for vase, hopefully Summer Glow will perform well too. Even though I did not enjoy leggy ground -kissing varieties before and got rid of them a few years ago. Presentation in the garden matters. Even though some of bushes are established, but I am not expecting tonnes of flowers, so investing in dedicated flower refrigerator is not an option. I wish!

I'm cutting a lot of my to be opened buds and give them to my daughter, the wind is destroying a lot of my flowers. Second command Performance is gone. Very sad.

Here in CO they all last longer in the vase than on the bush because of the constant wind, still days are very rare. I've never been good about cutting them at the optimum time for maximum vase life though.

SoCalGardenNut said:I'm cutting a lot of my to be opened buds and give them to my daughter, the wind is destroying a lot of my flowers. Second command Performance is gone. Very sad.

So sorry about the bad weather affecting your blooms that you had to cut them early. I sympathize!

My Itoh plant is actually looking better with fewer buds, less crowded.