Can you plant Peonies in Florida? Shade? Full sun?

Hi Oy, and to ATP!!!!
My guess would be no…We don't get cold enough for them…Usually…Right now I'm freezing, but this is not common. I believe they require more chill than we get even here in North Fl. What part of the state are you in?

from the panhandle. I would love to be able to grow peonies too, but I've never seen any here.

I've been in florida since 1967 and I've never seen those beautiful Peonies growing anywhere here.

The Old Farmer's Almanac says to zone 8: http://www.almanac.com/plant/p... and even though part of Florida is zone 8 I still don't think there's long enough cold for them this far south. They probably need an extended period of temp's below @ 40º to survive.

Hey, maybe you could dig them up and stuff them in the refrigerator for a few months! Sort of like what we have to do with dahlias here, except in reverse. Ok, I know that's silly, but I wonder if it would work?

I don't think peonies like to be disturbed. Maybe if they were in pots, but their roots get really big so I can't imagine that being practical. I do grow them here in GA but I wasn't sure I would be able to.

Well, I DID say it was silly. Heh, maybe if you had a walk-in freezer? I've never dug one up myself, but the ones I've ordered were fairly small tubers and they bloomed the first year for me. Might be able to just treat them as annuals, the way I think of some roses. Just idle speculation here.

They'd probably be like Pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) and other cooler weather annuals here. I have a friend who loves Pansy's and they can usually be found in garden centers around here early in the year but within a couple of weeks they are kaput.

If they only need BRIEF cold periods, at Zone lows like 15-20 F some nights, I'm thinking of a cold frame that would really be a COLD frame!

A shade cover, then insulation over the soil, then either ice blocks, dry ice, or an air conditioner with a long cord. Chill 'em for a few nights, and hope that's enough.

But I'm guessing form other posts that the short answer would have been "probably not". Sigh!

That's actually an interesting idea, Rick. But from what Lin said, I'm thinking that the heat and humidity of the summer might also be deal breakers.

Tree peonies will grow and bloom without a cold period. I grow them here in zone 9. I also grow the herbaceous peonies, but I have to dump trays of ice cubes on them in winter to make them bloom well.

Well, there you are, Rick! Hmmm, is there a problem with peonies and humidity then? Ok, someone there in FL is going to have to volunteer to experiment!

>> but I have to dump trays of ice cubes on them in winter to make them bloom well.

Wow, I thought I was crazy! But it's a real thing!

Well, I probably AM crazy, but not because of that.

I red someone who did alternating warm/cold +moist stratification using periodic additions of ice cubes.

Anyway, I think i should quit and go home while I'm ahead. Thanks, zuzu!

That's great news re: the tree peonies Zuzu and we should have a crazy dedicated gardener award. How do the itoh peonies do in NoCal?

I don't have any ITOH peonies, Evan, but I remember an article in Sunset Magazine about ITOH peonies in Southern California, so they must grow up here too. I would bet that they have to be grown in part-shade in California. They bloom later than the tree peonies, so they'd need some shade to protect them from our high temperatures and intense sunlight in summer.