Got a response to my email asking for info already:
The Alice Harding we have comes from Rijnbeek Nursery in Holland, one shipment of 50 root divisions. These days nurseries in Holland that ship to the US go through some pretty elaborate heat processes that are performed under the direction of the large state of the art inspection facility operated by our own USDA.
In the past, as I understand it, …long past…there have been some infected European roots sent to the US. You probably heard what I heard…that in the past plants infected with Lemoines did enter the US…an entire group of them is in total containment in the University of Michigan peony gardens and aren't going anywhere. We had Alice Harding for 4 years…we do not have any of the infected plants that arrived in US probably in the 30's or 40's or whenever. Alice has been very hard to find until Rijnbeek offered in some four years ago. Any infected plants were destroyed long ago in Holland and only "properly cooked' roots were replanted for future crops.
I doubt you'll ever see Lemoin's in your garden, unless you have traded old cultivers with old individuals who may have had access to much older stock than is available now.
Sincerely, Don Smetana
