I wonder if anyone tried to graft Itoh and herbaceous peonies? I had a few roots and scions available this fall and decided to make an experiment with those. Used above ground Itoh stems ( Bartzella, YYD, SFY and Cora Louise) with buds on Smith Family Yellow roots that were left after divisions...Not sure about results, will know in spring or a year or two. Itohs scions on Itoh roots. Will try herbaceous on herbaceous next year. So far I have not seen any new growth on Itoh roots ( 2 weeks ), so not sure if it is such a good idea, but scions are still alive. Probably herbaceous roots are developing faster with new growth. Did one Itoh scion with herbaceous root. Thinking about carrots

That might be successful in warmer zones or if you protect the grafts, I never saw any Itoh stems survive the winter in CO. Would break some peony assumptions if you're successful, looking forward to seeing your results, Alex!

I am keeping them in the house for 2 weeks - 20 days and will move to the garage after that. May be some cold treatment in spring if I see any growth.

In your zone the garage should be just about perfect. I had peonies in grow bags in my zone 4b CO garden, the Itoh stems survived the winter and they started growing a few weeks before I saw any signs of peony life outside in the spring.

The success rate of grafting Itoh scion on Itoh root is higher than grafting TP scions on herbaceous roots. I got quite a few growing, but see how they develop next year. Worth considering if you have roots available and do not want to pull the original specimen from the ground. I would be very happy if I can propagate more Morning Lilac without disturbing the original plant. A big piece of scion with a crown top and 3 eyes did not work for me, though. It could have been better just to plant it by itself.

Very interesting, Alex. Please keep up posted and your results.