Tracey, I know Bannister started digging in mid September. It is almost mid October now so probably those that are dug first are the ones that sat around. Like you said, we can't really complain for the price per root. May I ask what you ordered?

Liz, I looked at HS ;ast minute list. There's not that much discount. I was looking at A and D last night. How are their roots?

Bannister:
Cora Stubbs
Pink Derby
Adonis
Mrs FDR
Martha Bullock

Liz, I love Hollingsworth's peonies. I was just noting the change in hands. They are growing in a different area of the U.S. than they used to as well. Not at all knocking the new owner, not at all. I'm happy Don found a suitable grower for his legacy peonies.

I like A&D a lot, Lily. Their roots are comparable to Adelmans, Swensons and Hollingsworths. The guys that run it are very helpful as well and they tend to send a bonus root if you order a few. I'm with you--the discount wasn't enough to make me want to order more. I'm going to be squeezing in just to get the rest of the ones I've already ordered planted!
Yan, I'm sorry! My order from Chateau CharMarron was delayed in shipment while she waited for one of my selections to arrive at her location. I was under the impression that she was a grower and that all of the roots she offered were grown there, dug and shipped like the rest of the big growers, guess that's not the case for all of her herbaceous roots. I've heard really good things about her tree peonies, though.
So my Hollingsworth order came in today! Here's what I got:
Artemis

Bernice Carr

Color Magnet

Dr JH Neeley

Early Canary

Marilla Beauty

Old Faithful (this was a bonus root!)

And the rest:
Pink Bubbles

Pink Patterns

Pink Teacup

Rose Garland

Roselette's Child

Sandra Marie

Strawberry Wine

Sweet Melody

WL Gumm

Now I'm done! All planted, ready for the next box!

Wow! To get a Old Faithful as a bonus root, that's incredible !

I think they base the value of the bonus plant on the amount you spend overall. I bought 2 of their new releases this year so it pushed my total up a bit. Less than last year, though! Last year they sent Garden Treasure as the bonus root. Funny--I knew one of friends really, really loves yellow flowers so I gave the bonus one to her. Of course I had ordered Garden Treasure last fall, anyway, so I just picked the root that looked to have the most eyes and planted that one. The one I gave Cat had less eyes but did have some massive feeder roots. Hers bloomed this spring, mine didn't!
I was getting a box of roots together for my mother-in-law and her brother, my 2 favorite in-laws, so I split Old Faithful to send her a piece as well. Memorable bonuses from Hollingsworths so far have been Old Faithful, Garden Treasure and Blonde Vision. I traded the extra root of Blonde Vision thinking that it probably wouldn't do well here anyway. It doesn't increase quickly but the blooms are really special, sorry I only have the one now!

Liz, nice looking roots from Hollingsworth! And, it's wonderful that you're already getting them planted. I got some of their roots from a co-op several years ago, and Bernice Carr was one of them, it's a gorgeous peony.

My Swenson's order came on Friday, but we had to travel this weekend, so I opened the box, and set it in my back deck that's shaded. We came back today, and I unpacked the box, before I unpacked my suitcase.

The Swenson's roots are very large, and wonderful! I'll definitely be be ordering from them again in the future. Here's what I received. I did get 2 "Scarlet Heaven" and 2 of "The Fawn".

Swenson's roots look great this year, Annette! Love the selections you made! Swensons has always been one of the best as far as I'm concerned. I think you're going to have some beautiful peony pics next spring!

On an order topic--I just accidentally made an order to the Peony Shop in the Netherlands for over $600!!!!! I've received their price lists for the last couple of years but have never ordered. They've been posting pretty regularly on one of the Facebook pages I follow so I thought I'd check them out, see how expensive the shipping prices and the ag certificate would be so I just threw several into the cart and hit order, thinking all of that info would show up. NNNNOOOOOO!!!!! It went straight to Your Order Has Been Placed!!!! Still doesn't show any shipping/ag cert prices. Of course my payment info wasn't submitted but still...I sent them a message stating what I'd done and asked that the order be cancelled and asking for the shipping/ag cert info. If they're nice about it I probably will place a large order with them next year--they do carry a bunch of Itohs that aren't available here. Has anyone actually ordered from them before? They have a minimum order price of just over $200 to send to the states, wouldn't be hard to get to that total--obviously, just look at my oops order. If I knew they were reputable with a good product it might be worth it!

All better, Peony Shop order cancelled. That got my heart going for sure!

Bannisters called and they are shipping to us in Alaska Tuesday. I have my fingers crossed. My orders are small (five roots for around $200 full price - less 50%). I have little room left to plant and also have some lilies coming.

Thanks Liz, I'm looking forward to growing the Swenson's peonies. I'm glad you got the Peony Shop selections cancelled. I was sweating on your behalf when I saw the cost of the peonies, without know what the ag certificate was going to cost.

Mary, I'm looking forward to seeing your Bannister order. I also ordered 8 peonies from them.

I did get an email from Spring Hill on Thursday, that my order for 1 KIRINMARU PEONY and 2 KOPPER KETTLE ITOH PEONIES were being shipped, and should be arriving between Oct 11-13th. I guess they'll get here tomorrow. I took a chance and ordered from them again. The Shimanishiki that I planted from them years ago has done well with growth , and it has bloomed, except for the last 2 years.

Funny, Annette. I had ordered the same plants just like your Spring Hill order, but it's from Michigan Bulb. We should be compares our orders when they're arrived and continue to see how our plant's going to turn out. It's going to be interesting.OMG , I can't wait for Spring now......

Yan, I agree! I'm already looking past winter, thinking of how the garden will look next spring with the new peonies.

I'm just hoping for a spring next year rather than winter up through the end of May then straight into summer! I know I lost several peonies to our crazy Mother's Day blizzard and the cold weather afterward. I've decided I'm not buying replacements for them; I might trade for them in the future if it works out but that's as far as I'll go. Sucks, one was Pink Hawaiian Coral and another for sure loss was Sea Shell, 2nd attempt on both of those. Both from Adelmans 2 years ago, should've been safe. Adelmans always sends good quality roots, too so I know it was our nasty weather and not the seller on those.

Liz, I also hope you have a better spring next year. You had the cold, wet weather, and we were cool with lots of rain, then straight into a very hot summer. As a result, I had developing buds that aborted, and plants like Lady Orchid's blooms balled, and most refused to open. So sad!

It is sad, isn't it? Hate losing roots to weather. I still need to put up most of the peony rings I plan to use for some late spring protection, they've been backordered for a while now, hopefully will be in soon. I have the ones I had on hand in place, just need to cut the cloth to size to have it ready for the first 10 plants. I have another 40 rings coming so I should be able to put some protection over most of the ones that had issues last spring that still made it though with intact roots.

Please keep us posted about how your protection works, and share pictures. I would love to figure out how to stop the blooms from balling, and if covering them during cold, damp weather helps, I may try this.

Roots from Hidden Springs arrived today, all looked healthy :
Allen Rogers

Annisquam

Bright Knight

Coralie

Ensign Moriarity

Independence Day

Liebchen

Marie Jacquin

My order from Michigan Bulb arrived today, It looks ok for what I paid for, just hoping that its true to the names, don't need anymore mislabeled plants in my yard. Fingers crossed.
Kopper Kettle



Kirinmaru

That so funny Yan, my order from Spring Hill arrived today. We did order the same plants. I don't know how to tell if these are tissue cultured plants.

Kopper Kettle




Kirinmaru