I had dug a fairly large single fern leaf clump, cut it into halves, and sent a generous portion to a lady in Whitefish, Montana. The half which I kept was replanted in a 35 lb cat litter bucket to hold over winter because I could not decide where to replant it. I now see it has several eyes breaking through the soil even though it is in a dark part of my garage. I hope it doesn't try to sprout a stem this early since growing time is in March in my area. Nearly all my regular peonies are showing red eyes even though they are in the dormant stage. I will cover them with a layer of coarse sand to protect them until early Spring.

The comments above concerning Hidden Springs are accurate. I have ordered several times from them. They appear to be a "mom and pop" operation even though their credentials as experts are well known. The species types usually multiply slowly and are relatively scarce so one wanting to sample their stock needs to order early. The best time to put one's bid in for a desired peony is when the catalog is posted. The species fern leafs seem to go quickly, even at $38 and $50 a pop.

Hi Neal, yes, the stem that came up was a pink single herbaceous peony. The tree that I planted was Hanakisoi, a double. I left it, it had a cute little bloom.

I forgot to mention, when I 1st started growing peonies, I planted TP Shojuraku (Chojuraku). The guys that did the winter clean up cut it to a nub In addition, back then I didn't know the woody stem on a tree peony wasn't to be trimmed.

Needless to say, the idiot that I am was thrilled to see single pink blooms the following spring, thinking I had done such a great job growing this peony, LOL. It wasn't until years later, when I learned about the various types of peonies that I realized my error

Thanks, Annette. I sorry to hear of your tree peonies loss. I also lost a tree peony this year. I bought it at a Garden sale and did not plant it immediately so I think its death had something to do with that. Tree peonies are alot harder to grow than herbaceous peonies. I bought some tree peonies last year and grew them in grow bags from Cricket Hill Gardens temporarily until this fall. I transplanted all 8 of them to the garden this fall. I hope that they will do well. These were small plants when I got them so I do not expect to see any flowers until 2-3 years down the road. I went out to check on them yesterday and found some of the buds had been chewed off by some animals. The worst case was one that it broke a branch. I do not know what animal is responsible for it.

I hope that your tree peonies do well for you, please post pictures of your blooms, hopefully you'll get some soon. My Shimanishiki bloomed the 1st and 2nd year after I planted it, but none this year. It's developed some nice pips, so hopefully I'll get some blooms next year.

I have 2 tree peonies from Cricket Hill that my DH bought for for me in March 2013. Black Dragon Holds a Splendid Flower has grown fine, Coral Terrace was damaged by limbs that fell from my neighbor's tree during one of our storms last year. I see only woody stems, I don't know if it will recover.

It's a shame that the critters can do so much damage to our plants. I'm glad they haven't bothered my peonies here.

After having my tree peonies eaten by mice I was sufficiently over my anguish (they had finally bloomed after 2 years the summer before the mice decimated them) to buy two from a coop (lost one but the other is growing reasonably well (this is it's third summer) and have two more a year old and one just put in last year. Plus a few herbaceous new this year.

I have already placed my Fall 2015 order. Guess I jumped the gun as I did it a few weeks ago. Or I think I did?? Hmmmm. Better check. Maybe I am thinking of last winter.

When you say mice ate your tree peonies, I assume you are speaking of mice eating the bark around the stem. Try using the black foam rubber tubing used to insulate water pipes under a home. It is split and comes in different diameters and lengths. Make certain the bottom is below the ground or mulch surface. It will expand for normal growth. I have used it on tree roses and it works well.

I only had the mice that one year. Devastated a lot more than just peonies but I had waited so long to see blooms on the tree peonies. "They said it couldn't be done" up here and I guess pride goeth before a fall indeed when mine bloomed the prior summer.

If anyone recalls my planting 3 new peonies and coming out the next morning to find a squirrel had destroyed one, there was a decent piece of the crown left so I cut off all the eyes but one and planted it in a fairly large pot--possibly 5 gallon. This is the progress from inside my garage where it is cool and almost dark most of the time. Even a single eye is worth babying in order to give it a shot at growing. Next Spring I shall find out if my efforts were successful.

Wahooo. Looks like it will survive. Congratulaltions

It's amazing how resilient peonies are. Jerry, I am glad to see that the piece of the crown you saved has shown some growth.

The pips on my newly planted peonies continue to increase in size, especially on The Mackinac Grand, and Miss Melburne continues to grow, with 2 stems up. Never mind that we have had many nights below freezing.

How much longer will your winter be, Annette? When do the peonies normally start to grow in your area? I had some put up stems in the fall but those froze and are gone....won't see any growth at all until late March at least here.

Our cold temps last into March and April, and usually, our last frost day could be as late as mid May. I do not expect the stems to survive😔.

I've considered covering them with a cut out milk jug, or soda bottle, to provide a small greenhouse effect, but I think this would become quite tedious over the next 3 months.

You're right, that would get pretty labor intensive. It's too bad, though. Hate seeing them come up too early just to die back.

I had three pieces of peony that sort of broke loose from the main plants. I put all three in a 5 gallon bucket of soil. They are in my basement in the dark but the silly things have sent up nice pips. Not unfurling yet. Hope they don't til April or so when I could put them outside on the deck.

Good job Mary! Did your broken broken pieces have pips or were they just pieces of tubers?

Two had pieces of stems on them and one had a pip started. I don't even remember what they are. I almost threw them away. May be good for exchanges depending on what they are. Course that is assuming they bloom next year. They might. Shoot, I don't have a clue where I will put them. I received three new ones last fall and that about filled all the available spots for them.

You should be good for a couple of years by leaving them in the bucket. Make sure there are adequate drain holes in the bottom so water will not stand in the soil. After a blooming season, you can decide what to do with it.

Checked on my plants today, and the newly planted peonies keep growing. It's not helping that our temps have warmed up, with only 1 night predicted to be below freezing over the next 10 day, and temps in the low 60's during the daytime.

Avalanche has 3 buds, and Myrtle Tischler has 1 bud😔

Oh, peony envy galore !!!

Maybe you'll get lucky and the weather will stay good enough to let them survive. I know they start coming up mid-March here and we still have weeks of cold, snow and sometimes even below 0 weather in April into May. Most of my peonies do just fine, regardless.