I was away from home last week, husband tells me it snowed Friday, Saturday and Monday! 13 inches Friday into Saturday, all gone now. Some bent stems and a few shriveled leaves, hope we're done for the year.....Hail the next 2 months for us, Alex....

Your weather is worse than in Alaska... plant 3 or 4 inches deep, Liz

With the mulch I'm already over 4" deep! I'll continue to experiment. If I get roots big enough to split this fall I think I will go deeper with some. Our issue is that it doesn't get that cold during the winter, we truly are no colder than zone 4B. Our problem is the inconsistent spring. I'm not sure I can plant deep enough to keep them from experiencing our crazy springs without sacrificing all of the blooms.

It does seem like a choice between the plant surviving or having blooms. We had a mild winter which was a blessing as we had virtually no snow cover. I don't see much damage. A lily or two that rotted. One big orienpet looks okay but has developed no roots. I forgot it was there until I dug it up accidently to plant something else. I moved it to another spot and will keep an eye on it. The bulb is about 3" in diameter. It was a freebee just called 'orienpet' so I have no idea which one it is or what color.

OMG! I am so sorry to hear such terrible weather for you, Alex and Liz! I can't take that sort of fickle weather esp. weather that is harmful to developing buds and stems. I think I will be so frustrated and give up. I so feel for your plight and hope that the peonies having lived through these weather changes before will make it through better this year.

The snow isn't that big of a deal other than having to prop up some stems that bend. The bad stuff is when the temps get down so low along with the moisture.....hoping that won't happen again this spring!

Was in Walmart today and they had 20 quart Styrofoam coolers on sale for $2.27, purchased 25 for peony protection for next spring. The teenager at checkout thought I was having a massive party--think she was disappointed to hear the real reason I picked them up! Between these and the plant covers I found last winter I'm hoping my most cold sensitive peonies might have a better chance.

This is the one I found
https://www.bing.com/images/se...

So you just pop them over the peonies in the spring? When you are expecting frost? Itoh, herbaceous and tree? Well, trees small enough to fit under these containers..

That's what I did last spring, Mary. The ones I found last fall actually looked a lot like traffic cones made of Styrofoam. They worked well but wouldn't have gone over a larger peony. I got the smaller size offered, the larger might've gone over a tree peony but the shipping cost was so high that I decided to experiment with the smaller ones first. It was recommended that you use landscape pins to hold it down--my frozen ground and high winds laughed at that! I ended up using rocks on top to hold them in place. Worked pretty well except I left them on a few days too long--heated up too much before I got them off--and the last big snowstorm happened while I was away for a week.
I don't think it's necessary for the majority of peonies--most seem to come up late enough or be small enough in growth that they're not impacted negatively by the weather. I have several that have failed to thrive though and I THINK it's because of frost damage. As long as I see these plants come up every spring I'll try to give them some additional protection.
The ones I had last year (still have around half of them, several disappeared because of my failure to secure them after removing) looked exactly like these but I'm not sure they're the same--don't remember them saying specifically rose covers and am not sure they were insulating down to the same temps. https://www.bing.com/images/se...

My Itohs don't come up early enough to need protection and the ones from last year were too small for trees, I did cover several with really large pots, though!

I agree on holding them down. I could never get pins into the ground either. But I worry if I put them down and then don't check daily to be sure they hven't frozen to the ground. I guess being styrofoam I could just crush them to get my peony out into the air and sun. Yes, my Itoh's are about the last to come up. Garden Treasure is the very last but it is not in a good spot and doesn't get sun well til on into spring.

I would be more concerned about blasting buds on the tree peonies. I had them bloom in the past (diff plants) but I had covered them with burlap all winter til they were eaten by mice. I have pictures where the snow is about 18" deep around the garden and you can see these spots where I peeled back the burlap to get air and light to the plants. Worked well so I am not sure if that is needed. The three trees that bloomed the botanical garden were give no cover except some mulch. Only one had a woody stem above ground and it bloomed just fine. As they are colder than I am, I should take that to mean that I don't have to protect mine. Although now that I think on it, my newest tree (planted fall 2014) got blasted that next spring and this spring also. The little green buds (leaves I think not blooms) just turned brown. I moved it this spring early and it just took off great. Looks wonderful. So I have hope. Could have been the Buddhist chanting I had my daughter do over it after we moved it though. She was great - learned it is a monastery in Japan years ago.

I think if I had my daughter chant over my plants she'd be more likely to wish them ill rather than well, she hates being outside! Do you think your newest one just isn't as established or the variety just isn't as hardy? My trees are all so new they can easily be covered by a large pot or tomato cage covered with burlap or similar....My sights are set on some of the new ones Solaris introduces since they're deliberately bred to be more cold hardy.

I got a 5+ eyed peony. A&D (?) was late in sending it as they were waiting for it to arrive for transship so he sent me an extra large one. Have to go look up the name. It is Japanese. Indeed, I could easily cover it with a cage (I make mine from 2" squares green fencing. Makes nice round fences easily covered by burlap. All of which I just pitched as I didn't intend to do that again after the mouse thing. Really terrified that the little rodents would set up house in any burlap cages like they did before. So cozy for them and food right there to eat. If I had simply wrapped the plant tightly rather than providing a nice little 16" x 24" home it might have been okay. It is getting closer to time to dig up swaths of my garden to prepare for the new peonies. But the dahlias are doing better than they ever have so I can't bear to cut them down. I think I will have to do so before frost which isn't the best for them but I don't want to be out there cutting down plants and digging holes in under 32F weather which will be wet and nasty. Want to get all the greenery and brown stuff while still half way dry to run through the grinder to spread on the beds. I gave the botanical garden stat sheets with pics of 13 of those coming to choose from. The others I want for myself like 'Christmas' and 'Battle Flag' and a couple of fernies. Many of theirs were hybridized in the late 1800's so figured those were good choices for them.

To keep rose cones etc from blowing if it is too late for sticks near them in ground:
I use a brick on top, or else I place small pails of water on top. The water freezes and acts like a brick. Cottage cheese or milk cartons filled with water work too.