Liz, I'm glad you're about to get your Adelman's order. I'm looking forward to seeing what their peony roots look like. I asked them not to send mine until mid October, when it's cooler here.

It would be great if we could have a sticky for the peony forum, with a reputable vendor list. So many good sources have already been listed in this thread.

I ordered from three Canadian companies this year, but I'm most impressed with Boreal Farms. Their roots were healthy and huge. My Mrs. FDR had at least 15 eyes! My smallest root had 9!

Holy Cow Pwinget!!!! Those are some HUGE roots! Are you dividing them before planting? Those would be some huge shrubs! I looked at Boreal Farms' website, looks like they have a very nice selection of peonies. And I have NEVER received a bareroot peony with 15 eyes, great find on that grower!

Cem9165, it should be in by Friday, I'll take a picture when I first open the box. Think I have 8 or 10 peonies total from Adelman's this year.

Just received an order from A and D Nursery, got Blushing Princess, Coral Magic, Sunny Girl and Joker and they sent Lotus Bloom as a bonus. This is the first time I've ordered from them so I didn't know what to expect. Took a quick look at the roots since I can't plant before Friday and they look healthy, 4-5 eyes each. I was much more impressed with the number of eyes before I saw your post, Pwinget!!! Which others did you get?

Blushing Princess - I intend to get that next year. It's on my must-have list. Sunny Girl was sent with my Mrs. FDR from the same grower - top notch roots.

I'm not dividing before planting. I'll see what happens next year, and if any need more room, I'll find it for them. I have all my peonies. They were all sent about the same time. I've taken pics, but some came out blurry, like usual, so I'll retake a few and post in case anyone else in Canada is interested. This one grower sent moist bulbs, and the cut parts of the roots didn't look their best, but the rest looked so healthy, I doubt I'll have problems with them. I guess I'll see.

Here's pictures of part of my Adelman's and A and D order. Adelman's have the white tags, A and D are colored. There is an 8" plastic stake in each picture to show a reference size. If anyone is interested I can post the rest of the order, just ended up with 18 from Adelman's and 4 from A and D, my computer is choking with uploading these!!!

Adelman's look better than some that were posted last year when they were just one root with a few eyes. These look similar to the roots they used to sell.

One of the reasons Adelman's roots are straight is that the roots are planted in a raised row rather than in a flat field. Those old enough to remember how corn used to be grown before 'no till' should try and visualize a corn row 13-18 inches high.

Alana,

The Adelman's roots did look significantly different than any of the others I've received this year, glad to know why!! I was surprised to see one very large root for the majority of them with several eyes; the A and D were more like what I was used to seeing. Doesn't matter as long as they bloom!!

I love the pictures, thank you, Liz. Will you post the ones from Pure Peonies, too, when you get them?
Alana, that is really interesting. I'm glad you shared that.

Here are the ones I received from D'aoust:



One had 3 eyes, but the rest had at least five. The one with the pink tag (to the right of 'Gentry') was an extra one she had sent me - Horizon. It was very nice of her.

These are from Boreal Farms:

Pink Jitterbug



Mrs. FDR



Sunny Girl



My smallest was Sunny Girl with 9 eyes.

Les Jardins Osiris:







My trees were young (as advertised) but healthy and with good form:





Itohs - my Bartzella was pretty big:



My others were younger, as advertised, and had lots of eyes:




Les Jardins Osiris sent the roots in moss and were loosely packed in the box. Yet, they survived the trip well. As you can tell, the plants were grown in pots and that is why the roots are compact. Also, some parts of the roots arrived moist so I sat them out to dry a bit.

All I can say is WOW! Liz and Pwinget, thanks for posting these pictures. Now, I can't wait to get my order.

Liz, the Adleman's roots look nice and healthy. I'm glad to see that they look so good. There have been some negative comments on another site about what customers have received from them in the last few years. I'm glad I took a chance and ordered from them.

Pwinget, the size to they peony roots that you've received are amazing. I've never seen such large roots from a vendor before. It looks like they just dug up the root ball, and sent the entire plant. I wish I could order from some of your vendors in Canada.

There are some interesting comments about the size of peony roots on the Solaris Farms website, where they discuss why they only send 3-5 eye roots, vs larger pieces with more roots and eyes.

After seeing these pictures, my level of anticipation has increased, while I await the arrival of my orders placed for peonies this fall.

Happy 1st day of Autumn everyone, planting time is here.

Annette

Liz, I forgot to add, I had issues loading pictures when I first joined the gardening forums. I have to admit, when it comes to computers, I'm a dummy

A kind person from BGI told me about Windows Paint. I use it to make all of my pictures smaller before I post them. I click the "resize" button to change the picture size to 20%, which seems to allow the pictures to load faster. I noticed here on ATP that if the pictures have not been resized, it takes forever to load.

Annette

I have read on some of the 'how to divide peonies' instructions put out by major growers where they say too many eyes can hinder the development of the replanted peony. Seems there is a correlation between the size of the roots and the number of eyes which they can support during their first few years. 3 to 5 eyes seems to be the normal standard for quality peonies. Of course, larger root clumps should support more eyes.

That makes sense!

And thanks for the pics of the roots--no wonder mine take so long to grow to blooming size.
I have been getting much smaller roots.

If I get something with over 5 eyes, I split it and make two separate plants And they still will bloom that first year.

Those roots look beautiful.

I agree! Pwinget, I would fall over in shock if I received a peony root that big!! AMAZING!!! I hope that grower makes your "buy from again" list! The ones you got from Les Jardins looked wonderful, too. From the names I saw on tags you're going to have a beautiful peony blooming season next spring!

Cem9165, it's not the site that gives me issues with loading pictures, we're out in the country and are forced to rely on the big satellite internet provider--our service drops out more than it's in. Makes doing anything that takes any time online very frustrating. Price you pay to live where you can't see your neighbors here in CO! Glad we could increase your anticipation for receiving your peonies!

I got an email from Pure Peonies saying their shipping would be in October/early November. Replied and asked to get mine in Oct if possible, our weather is so unpredictable that late in the year. Also have orders out from Fina, Aspelund, Peony Farm, Paradise Gardens, Brooks Gardens, Birchwood Farms and just put one in to Swenson Gardens. I'll post pictures of Pure Peonies when they arrive and any others there is interest in.

I'm really glad peony conversations are still going on in this forum! LOVE seeing what everyone else is getting for the upcoming season; think we're going to have some GORGEOUS pictures next spring!

Spring 2014 will be very colorful.

I got an email from Adelman's, my peonies were shipped today. I'm looking forward to receiving them and hopefully getting them planted this weekend. I'll be sure to post a picture of the roots when they arrive.

Annette

I actually received a package from Fina over the weekend but it was the wrong order! I contacted them and they think shipping labels were mixed, were very nice and my order was shipped out today. Someone out there probably got my order and are in for what I hope was a pleasant surprise, there was a double fernleaf, 2 fernleaf hybrids and 4 herbaceous peonies in it! Says a lot for Fina that they told me to keep the other order instead of trying to ship it back or something. Nice bonus for the mix-up and waiting an extra week for my order (3 Edulis Superba).

Just placed another order from Chateau CharMarron in CA, their website says they ship out bareroot peonies through the end of the year. Haven't ordered from them before but the website is really pretty and their prices are great. Check out www.4peonies.com if you're still ordering (or just drooling over) either herbaceous or tree peonies! I sent a check out today, the owner emailed me last night to say the roots would be in the mail once payment was received. I'll post the pictures of those roots when they come in, too!

Cem9165, looking forward to seeing the pictures when your order comes in! Which ones did you get?

That's very friendly of Fina. You are one heck of a gardener, Liz. I would say I wish I could order as many as you, but I would fall over planting over a hundred roots! I'll just say that I wish I could order half as many as you!
:)

BTW, if you start your own nursery, please ship to Canada.

Oldgardenrose and Magnolialover, you are making me consider cutting my big roots in half, but I don't feel confident doing so. This is the first time I've done more than simply plunk the roots into the ground and cover them with mulch. Also, they have nice roomy spots in the ground for themselves, but if I split them, every second half would have to go into a pot. I won't have new homes for peonies until next year.

If I didn't have room to plant them out, I wouldn't split them. But if you have room, it is nice to do if you get an exceptionally large amount of eyes in a new planting. Just something to keep in mind for the future.

Pwin, I had 20 cubic yards of planter's mix delivered last spring and spent most of the early summer making it into raised beds. Left it there through the rest of the summer mostly unplanted, just letting it settle, put drip lines and mulch down and waited. Now all I have to do is push the mulch to the side and scoop planter's mix out of the way to plant the new tubers. Might have to do the same thing again next year if my wish list keeps growing....The land our house sits on was empty grazing land for over 100 years so we had absolutely no landscaping when we moved here (if you don't count the rotted cow pies!) We do have several pockets of huge pines and are on rolling hills so it's pretty but still barren looking where there are no trees. My goal is to get winding paths with raised beds interspersed over at least 1-2 acres in the next 5 years. The beds I've done so far probably cover appx 1/2 acre directly around our house so I've gotten a good start! And if I ever did start growing peonies to sell you can bet I'd mail to Canada! Just don't expect as big of a root as you got from your Canadian growers, they have you spoiled for any other growers!