Great advice from Liz there! I am sure you will someday have peonies blooming in your garden like Anya.

LizinElizabeth said: Look at the area your daylilies are in. Peonies can live in a lot of conditions—extremely acidic/alkaline might be challenging, but the only truly bad as in will kill them is full shade and boggy conditions. I'm sure your garden doesn't thaw out a lot during winter but check the area you had them planted in; does it get really wet and stay that way for a long time in early spring? ...........

People are actually advised to put dark blooming peonies in part shade to keep full color longer. Even the 2 hours of full sun combined with partial shade should be enough to provide some blooms. I'd do as Anya suggested, clear roots out of a large area. Make sure they're planted so the top of the root is 2" deep—you don't want them shallow in your zone as you're actually pushing it on the cold side for them to survive already.

Thank you for your reply. No, the area is well-drained. Sarah Bernhardt was one of the first I planted. Have one now. Six years old. Refuses to bloom. Fine in every other respect. I'm really getting puzzled here. I thought it was the sun and, in doing some research, found peony after peony that required full-sun, until I stumbled on the Brecks site and almost half say sun to partial shade. Partial shade is defined, according to one site, as having at least 1 1/2 hours of full sun and the rest partial shade.. Actually, none of my peonies are in deep shade and they all get at least 2 hours of direct sun then partial shade, so unless I have varieties that takes full sun, I can't understand why they won't bloom. I wrote to Brecks and said I was looking for a partial-shade tolerant peonies and they replied that all their peonies can handle full sun to partial shade. Maybe it's the soil.

kousa said: Great advice from Liz there! I am sure you will someday have peonies blooming in your garden like Anya.

Thank you. Now that I've read that peonies can handle partial shade I'm more confused than ever as to why mine aren't blooming. Maybe I should enrich the soil.

You should probably do a soil test, see if the ph is extreme on either side. Guess you could have a deficiency in the soil but if other plants are blooming in the same bed it seems unlikely. Don't think it would hurt anything at all to fertilize with something like BulbTone or FlowerTone to see if that will push some blooms.
I don't normally advise anyone to dig up roots but 6 years in the ground with no blooms is extreme. If it were mine and it wasn't increasing after all of that time I'd dig it up and see what the root looks like in the fall, normal peony transplant time.

Have you checked on the depth of the roots?
The crown with pink shoots should be near surface or not greater than two inches down?

CarolineScott said: Have you checked on the depth of the roots?
The crown with pink shoots should be near surface or not greater than two inches down?

Thank you for your reply. I double-checked and they're planted 1 1/2 inches below the surface.

LizinElizabeth said: You should probably do a soil test, see if the ph is extreme on either side. Guess you could have a deficiency in the soil but if other plants are blooming in the same bed it seems unlikely. Don't think it would hurt anything at all to fertilize with something like BulbTone or FlowerTone to see if that will push some blooms.
I don't normally advise anyone to dig up roots but 6 years in the ground with no blooms is extreme. If it were mine and it wasn't increasing after all of that time I'd dig it up and see what the root looks like in the fall, normal peony transplant time.

Thank you. I will take steps to do that. I ordered a Festiva Maxima for fall planting and will start again with enriching the soil, etc, before planting and hope for better success. I'm not so sure about the amount of light being inadequate once I learned they can grow in partial shade. I think I have that and enough light. I took pictures from 9 am until 4 pm on a sunny day. It became overcast at 4 pm then cleared by 6 pm. Would appreciate knowing from experienced peony growers whether the amount of light in the pictures would pass as "partial shade" and be adequate enough to grow peonies.
1) 9 am
2) 11 am
3) 12:30 pm
4) 2:30 pm
5) 4 pm
6) 6 pm

I was not following this conversation from the beginning, but based on your pictures I would rather grow tree peonies or consider some earlier varieties before everything around them leaves out. OR TPs with winter protection for sure if you are a risky person. Or in pots with overwintering in the garage. Or you can clear some woods and make a sunny spot for your herbaceous peonies. IMHO the area has too much shade.

AlexUnder said: I was not following this conversation from the beginning, but based on your pictures I would rather grow tree peonies or consider some earlier varieties before everything around them leaves out. OR TPs with winter protection for sure if you are a risky person. Or in pots with overwintering in the garage. Or you can clear some woods and make a sunny spot for your herbaceous peonies. IMHO the area has too much shade.

Thank you for your reply. Right now, my only choice is trying to winter them over in pots in a garage or basement and chase the sun. I'm hoping there's an alternative. BTW, the peonies in your database are very beautiful. Are any of the double peonies really hardy and shade tolerant?

I agree, the amount of direct sun is probably too little.

anyagoro said: I agree, the amount of direct sun is probably too little.

Thank you. I'm a bit confused as to what is actually meant by "partial shade". Some sites say it means a certain period of direct sun( 1/1 2- 2 hours) then dappled light. Other sites don't define. Is it possible to say that "partial shade" is dappled light from start to end of day or does there have to be a period of direct sunlight?

I would be very interested to hear from members who are successfully container-growing peonies and overwintering them each year in garages, sheds, basements, etc., in zone 3.

There are plenty of old varieties grown in Alaska, so you would be safe with P. lactifloras, But they still need sun.

AlexUnder said: There are plenty of old varieties grown in Alaska, so you would be safe with P. lactifloras, But they still need sun.

I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.

I am desperate to have blooming peonies for next year. As I said, I bought some basic double -blooming 1-year stock which I will transplant into pots this fall. I'm wondering about the peony I have as shown in the above pictures(as well as several others in my yard that are 6-years old and older that have never bloomed) if I transplant it/them into pots in the fall and overwinter them in my basement. Will it/they bloom next year or having disturbed the roots that would be enough to stop them from blooming next year. Also, I'm trying to read up as much as I can about growing peonies in pots and there are differing opinions about what soil(some say slight acidic) and just exactly what to put in the soil mixture. Specific steps on exactly what to do from seasoned peony growers would be much appreciated.

Flower buds are setting up right now so I guess if your peonies don't get enough direct sunlight this season they won't bloom next season anyway. Transplanting a developed peony with a large roots system into a pot is no good, I would suggest to divide the roots and plant them in pots. Although peonies don't like to grow in pots you might get flowers at least during the first years. Good luck!

anyagoro said: Flower buds are setting up right now so I guess if your peonies don't get enough direct sunlight this season they won't bloom next season anyway. Transplanting a developed peony with a large roots system into a pot is no good, I would suggest to divide the roots and plant them in pots. Although peonies don't like to grow in pots you might get flowers at least during the first years. Good luck!

Thank you. This has been very helpful. I have a question. Will dividing an established peony(which was given time for the buds to set before doing so) give flowers the next year? What about buying roots from nurseries - just the roots not the plants in pots? Would they not flower the next year because the peony they were taken from was given time to set the buds before it was divided? If so, why is it that it takes two years from bare root to bloom?

From the pics it seems like you really have no direct sun right now on the peonies. All looks to be dappled shade. What causes that shade—are the trees evergreen or deciduous? Do you have more sun earlier in the season? If so Alex's suggestion of growing herbaceous hybrids that bloom earlier might be a good thing to try.
Did you after any good suggestions from the woman you met that had them growing locally? You mentioned on your first post…

If you buy roots from a good source (Fina, Solaris, Adelman, Holingsworth, Brooks, Oh My Peonies, some others) and plant them right away in the fall, you will get blooms next season. I almost always have peony flowers next season, I leave only one to enjoy and check identification, but you can have them all if you want.

LizinElizabeth said: From the pics it seems like you really have no direct sun right now on the peonies. All looks to be dappled shade. What causes that shade—are the trees evergreen or deciduous? Do you have more sun earlier in the season? If so Alex's suggestion of growing herbaceous hybrids that bloom earlier might be a good thing to try.
Did you after any good suggestions from the woman you met that had them growing locally? You mentioned on your first post…

They are deciduous and take well into June to leaf fully, however, we've been having cold springs well into June which doesn't help matters. For that reason, I don't know if earlier-blooming varieties would bloom early enough.

The woman I was speaking of offered no tips except to say she didn't want them and, by her own words, neglected them terribly. As I said, they were on the north side, behind a large shed and I can't see where they ever got the sun(she also had a heavily treed back yard). They filled 30 x 30 feet in a mass display of colour. Unfortunately, it seems all she cared about was the empty space she wanted with them gone.

I can't see, at this point, how I will have blooming peonies until two years from now. If I divide the six-year old ones I have, they won't bloom for two years or more. I bought some basic one-year old double peonies but they're only about 12 inches high right now. I have them in full sun for six hours, however, I read, even with that, it can take three years or more for peonies to be established enough to start blooming. Even if I pruned all of my trees drastically, I now understand that it might be too late for the buds to have set for next year because the peony didn't get enough sun all this summer for that to happen.