It is typical for my peonies to put up eyes/pips late in the fall or early winter. They do not grow beyond that level but appear to suffer no damage throughout the winter. In the past, I have covered them with sand for physical protection but this year they will be left to their own resources. First pic is an unknown double red. Second is Early Scout.

Really great example Jerry. The weather changes are affecting the peonies here too.

Mine do the same with the same results. I don't cover them at all. This year with no snow even til now, it worries me a touch. But I believe our late snow has been the case the last few years.

My Itohs have red buds showing, but no herbaceous ones so far.

I saw eyes showing on my pink fernleafs too but I covered them with soil just to be safe.

I have a few popping up but they should be fine. Though you may want to check them in the early spring. This past late winter - early spring I had buds coming out because we had a very mild winter and then we got hit with a hard frost in February and it killed many of my roots.

I just found a pink pip of a newly planted Command Performance. Typically they just stop there till spring, but I have had newly planted roots grow during an unusually mild early winter. Fingers crossed that was just unusual weather that year

Oh Craig, you must have been so disappointed. Were they established roots or newly planted in the preceding Fall?

That is why it has been recommended to mulch after the ground freezes in order to prevent the normal freezing and thawing cycles in the middle temperature zones. I will let God sort the weak from the strong this winter.

LG, they were both newly planted and established roots. I lost a Bartzella which was nine years old, several other Itohs and herbaceous and a hard to find and expensive herbaceous Goldmine. It was very disappointing! Also, if any tree peony starting budding, it got burned and killed a few as well.

I lost Goldmine this year too, Craig, so you're not alone. It did nothing this spring so I dug up the root. I replanted bits of it in a new place but they didn't look good, have no expectations for next spring.

Sorry to hear about your loss Liz, it is painful when you spend so much money on something and never see it bloom. My Goldmine started budding too early and was killed completely. I found a site which offers it for a more reasonable price, just waiting for it to become available.

Well, that's sad that you lost such old, established peonies, Craig. The weather has been so odd these past few years.

I will go look up Goldmine.

We finally got some snow cover. About 4" today I think. Just hope it is in time. The poor plants have been sitting there exposed to the weather which has been pretty cold. The snow should stay this time.

A good deep snow cover is an excellent insulator against the winter cold.

I'm not sure if I'll replace mine or not, Craig--it doesn't seem like a very healthy plant for my area. It bloomed first year here then slowly decreased the next 2 years until I dug it up this fall. I don't even think I can blame our crazy weather for this one.

The peony database has a very interesting write up on Goldmine......check it out if you have time.

Yeah, I looked it up when I realized my root was in such bad shape, trying to get an idea about parentage and such to see if I could suss out any clues about how to treat it to MAYBE save the root....but it's all just conjecture--Gilbert Wilde comes up again, huh?

Thanks LG and Liz, this specie has survived for many centuries so I will not give up yet. Has anyone tried rarepeonies.com? They are offering Goldmine for a great price if and when it becomes available again.

I purchased mine from Pure Peonies several years ago. Looked at rarepeonies.com, like what they say! Can't remember ever seeing their site before. Have you ordered from them before, Craig? I'm looking forward to seeing what they offer for this upcoming fall.