Wow! Thanks Craig! I certainly would want any Itoh that I don't currently have.

Absolutely!

Well, I just sent an email to Behmerwald Nursery about reserving Duchesse de Lorraine and Oochigeas. Will see what the response from the proprietor will be.

kousa said: I think all of Don Smith's itoh peonies are initially propagated by tissue culture.

Probably there are a few Don Smith's peonies available in some nurseries. Therese from Brooks Gardens wrote: "I purchased my stock of Singing in the Rain peony directly from Don Smith prior to his releasing for tissue culture. It is not tissue culture, but from his original stock." I got one last fall from her.

Anya, it is nice to know that there are some Don Smith itohs out there that were initially propagated from original stock. Do you know of any other nursery that Don Smith may have sent original stocks of his registered itoh peonies to for field propagation?

Karen, I did not ask that particular question but what Therese wrote to me about Magical Mystery Tour (I also bought this one): "I am not sure if the Magical Mystery Tour is from tissue culture, as I purchased my stock later - however, it divides well; not hard to divide like the one tissue culture plant I have (Shining Light). I try to stay away from tissue culture rootstock - it is too difficult to divide and long term results are unknown."

I always ask before buying what propagation method they use in a nursery. I know that in Solaris Farm, Hidden Springs Farm, Fina Gardens, Swenson Gardens and American Meadows they use root division.

The first Itohs I got were tissue cultured, back before I knew there was a difference. I did lose half of the ones I purchased but to inexperience rather than inferior products. That original Strawberry Blonde is still my absolute favorite Itoh and I have a bunch of them. Would I purchase another one if I found it and knew it wasn't tissue cultured? Probably. If there were 2 potted Itohs, both blooming the same I'd probably grab the non-tissue cultured--those Select Plus (assumed TC) are not fun to divide! But I'm certainly not going to ignore the one U.S. source we've found over the year or more that we've known about these Itohs because they're tissue cultured. There's so little known about the varieties we saw on the Plantek website that we don't even know if there is a non-tissue cultured source at all and I WANT THEM ALL.....(diabolical laugh....)

Hi Guys,
I also brought Caroline Constable from a local nursery this year too, I paid $30 for a one gallon plant, it's tissue culture Itoh peony for sure. If your guys so interested in to buying more varieties of the Itoh peony, I think you should check out Quality Greenhouse in Dillsbury, PA, 17019. phone number is 7174328900, i found this information on the pot with Caroline constable, may be they will have more varieties available.
I hope this helps!

I think Quality Greenhouse is a wholesaler. You probably need a wholesale account to buy plants from them.

Thank you, Yan.

Did your plant do well?

Yes, LG
All the plants do well. I also brought"Estrellia" for$13, it is tissue culture plant as well, the plants look just like the one I ordered from Michigan Buld two years ago but 2 times bigger, come from the same greenhouse but carry by different nursery, so I believe that greenhouse do business with Planteck. I don't know they will work out a group buy with us or not.

Thanks, Yan. I look forward to seeing any blooms you may get this Spring. I do realize that it may take your plants a couple of more years for them to bloom.

My 'Caroline Constabel' arrived today. Thank you so much, Craig. I truly appreciate all the time and effort you went to to get this peony.
I am pleased with the size... it is comparable to other TC Itohs I've bought in the past. She's already planted as my ground wasn't frozen. I estimate it will take her three years to bloom.
Here's a photo of her after I washed the planting mix off. Two nice eyes.

LG, glad to see it arrived safely. Also good to hear you were able to plant it. The ground is frozen here so I potted them and will have to insulate them somewhere outside, maybe the compost pile. It is -5 degrees now 😬

I lust after "Molly the Witch'. I fell in love with her at a nursery. She was not blooming but the leaves were lovely. She was only $15 in a small pot. Sadly, I planted her in a dry spot, and did not water enough (it was July how stupid was that) and she died immediately.
Now I dream about her, but nobody sells her.
Does anyone know of a peony with similar leaves? I thought the photo of the blooms looked lovely, but I read that she only blooms for less than a week! So a hybrid with better blooming but the same unusual leaves would be nice. I would grow her from seed if anyone has any...

Mary, I know that Brooks Gardens carry P. mlokosewitschii and seedlings as well that may have various colors. I have always had good luck with their peonies. They even have a few left over now but you have to act quickly.

I was going to suggest Brooks as well! Their Molly seedlings are around what you'd get in gallon containers, have 2 of them. Only one has bloomed so far and it was a pretty pink. Some of the other species peonies have that really distinctive foliage as well, if you're looking for a hybrid you
Might want to look at some of the Saunders peonies, think quite a few have Molly or fern leaf in heir parentage. I don't concentrate as much on foliage--mine is typically so hail damaged by bloom time that I deliberately ignore it so am not a good person to recommend any. The only ones that seem to look not ratty by mid summer for me are Itohs.

Thanks- I just looked at their website. I think for $40 I won't order one, as I really liked the foliage of the species and could not ensure that open pollinated hybrids would have similar foliage. As they grow lots of peonies, the pollen parent could be anyone. It would be a rather expensive experiment.

Mary, there were some offerings of Paeonia mlokosewitschii from several nurseries and I read somewhere that it is easier to propagate it from seeds but there is a problem of open pollination... Solaris offered root divisions of the single light yellow color form (species) and it was not sold out. There is a good chance that they will offer it next year.

Thanks- I have bookmarked Solaris and Brooks and will check in the spring-what I have found in the past is most places do not offer them each year, and only have very limited numbers.