Me too, Karen! Love the ones that have something unexpected...My Phoenix White tree peony did that one year, had the prettiest lavender streaks from the base of the flower. We had a cooler, wetter spring that year and a really bad winter. All of the old wood died on the plant that had the pretty flares, all of the blooms that year for that plant were from entirely new wood from the ground. Absolutely knew I'd killed the thing, was amazed when it put up new growth and bloomed. It hasn't bloomed that way since; just solid white again.
LG, I too have gotten several mislabeled peonies from Gilbert Wild but those have been some of my favorite blooms....I got one labeled Lovely Rose that is wrong but it's a beautiful semi-double that I haven't been able to ID yet. Also the one I use as my avatar is a NOID from Wilds, made the mistake of dividing it 3 falls ago and it hasn't bloomed for me since. The thing was HUGE when I dug it up, sent a piece to Nancy (same Nancy who got the Blonde Vision, hi Nancy!), my sister and shared with a couple of friends here as well as keeping enough pieces to be worth the "no bloom for a while" sacrifice! It's a beautiful cream double with dusty rose on some of the edges, reminds me of the colors of the dogwood blooms where I grew up. And last fall I ordered Astarte from them and got a really pretty single yellow instead, I'll attach a pic although the color is really paler than the flower in person. Seems to be a vigorous grower for here, think it's going to be a keeper, just wish I knew enough to narrow down a name. No, I don't order from Wilds only for a variety that I absolutely have to have but there is enough room in my beds for interesting NOIDs...and enough gardeners involved in the Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum who adore peonies but don't care about names to take any that I don't want. We have 2 plant exchanges here a year, one in spring and one in fall, so not a single root goes to waste.
Henry Chotkowski told me at the APS convention that Wilds suffered a terrible flood of the fields quite a while ago and have never made them right. He told me this in explanation--he and his wife were planning to stop by there on their way back to AR to walk the fields--he wanted to see the flowers in bloom to know what to order to get what he wanted. Sometimes he'd deliberately order mis-id'ed peonies because he recognized something he couldn't get elsewhere. Seems they actually have some older plants that are very hard to come by now. I'd love to be able to do that same thing, just walk the fields and say "I want this one, and this one, and..." not just at Wilds but all of the big growers! Wouldn't that be amazing?

Not Astarte!

LG, I've talked to Rich back and forth a couple of times on Facebook but haven't followed his page, I'll do that tonight! Thanks for the info!

Liz, that is a pretty Yellow single.
They have to know that they are not selling what they are advertising and that is fraud. I'm not going to help them continue fraudulent business practices.

They should only sell as "variety unknown".

I'm with you LG. Too much time and money spent over the years with places like that. I stick with growers and am happy to say I do so.

I guess I like the surprise. I've not had one from them that I disliked, guess if I'd received a bunch that looked the same and were generic I'd feel the same way, or if I were disciplined enough to coordinate my beds. I get exactly what you're saying, they should send what you ordered. I'm lucky enough to not have to be ruthless with my beds, if they're crowded I start another, would probably write them off as well if that weren't the case. Wilds is a grower, though, Tracey--have quite a few peonies hybridized or introduced by them.

Wilds is a grower, you are right Liz. I also know that they bought peonies wholesale from Hollingsworth to sell themselves. So how many they actually grow versus how many they resell is up for debate. I have always seen them as a discount operation and not a serious grower operation, concerned with customer satisfaction or getting their customers the roots they actually ordered. Most of their family named peonies were from another generation (and are quite lovely) that may have been more serious about their business.

With limited space, I don't have the time nor the energy for the companies who do not seem to take themselves seriously. I can say I love all peonies, but there are certain selections I make to bring in here. An occasional mistake, that you stand behind replacing wrong sent items, is one thing, but order after order not being correct is quite another. It seems deliberate. Or that they just don't care.

LizinElizabeth said:Me too, Karen! Love the ones that have something unexpected...

Not sure what you are referring to here, Liz Would you like a division too or are you referring to the green petals in the flower? LMK. Will save you one if you want.

Not Astarte!


Agree the above is a very nice yellow peony. Did you get the real Astarte too? I know that sometimes you order 2 roots.

I must say that it is a hit or miss thing with GW. Though I have gotten some nice plants from them, I also got a number of mislabels. One thing is for sure is that I will not order any more double peonies from them. It is very hard to identify the peonies if they turn out to be a mislabel. I have ordered about 16 peonies from them and so far only 3 turn out to be mislabels and 4 have not bloomed yet so I don't know if they are correct cultivars or not. I will definitely order peonies from GW that are not offered elsewhere. I am very happy with the Astarte peony that I got from them last year.

Was your Astarte really Astarte, Karen? I would've thought all of those would be mislabeled. I only got one but will order it again if they offer it, maybe I'll get lucky, who knows. And if your white double with green petals turns out to be a repeat thing I'd love a piece of it. I actually did get several duplicates this fall, should have something you'd like as well.

You're probably right, Tracey--the current generation seems to be very casual about their approach to the business. So far the only plant type I've ever had a mis-ID on though were peonies, have gotten daylilies, lilies, dahlias and irises with no issues. Or at least not yet.....

Liz, I don't think mine is the correct one either. Mine is a flower of buff yellow color that fades to ivory. According to Carsten DB, Astarte is supposed to be ivory flushed pink. I really like mine even for a NOID as it has a lovely unique color with red colored stems. If you zoom in on the third pic, you will see the reddish stems. Really interesting! You just don't know what you are going to get when you order a Saunders variety from GW. If they offer any of the Saunders variety in the future, I am looking to order more of these just to see what surprise I am going to get. I still am waiting to see Winged Victory and Lustrous bloom. I am most curious what I will get with Winged Victory.

I think your Astarte is closer to right than mine! Let's see what they do this spring. I got Lustrous a couple of years ago from them and it bloomed 1st spring, it looked right to me so hopefully yours will be too. Winged Victory hasn't bloomed for me, either.

I hope to see Lustrous and Winged Victory bloom this coming spring. But I am not holding my breath for them. They sent me very small roots so I think these will need probably another year of growth before I see their blooms.

Lustrous seems to be very robust, it might surprise you. Winged Victory is an average grower here, think that one was a 2/1 when I bought it, don't remember seeing buds on it last spring.