I have been puzzling over crinkly leaves on some of my Alexander Woollcott's stems. The buds on the stems with damaged leaves would form but be stunted and stopped developing causing bud loss. THis happened last year too and some of my flowers were affected by not opening properly. . So I dug up the roots last fall to see what was happening. The roots were normal and healthy but it might be getting too big. I divided the root into 3 and 2 were planted away from the original spot. This year, I have noticed the same problems on all 3 of them. Wasn't sure which bugs or diseases were responsible for this damage. Upon research, I think I have found the culprit to be the nasty THRIPS. Does anyone notice this problem with their peonies in their garden? It seems that the thrips target my Alexander Woolcott and a few others more than my other peonies. I have 10 other peonies growing near it but they are not affected. Do you use any spray to control this damage?

Karen, this is really bad! Do you actually see many thrips on peonies? They are tiny but visible. I found some information online about thrips and cold water and knocking them off is the best method to fight them. Neem oil should work in earlier stage but there are no chemical effective for hem as I read. I think there are thrips in my garden too (I saw tiny insects like sticks on flowers) but I do not know how much damage they cause.

I can't see them at all. I had really bad infestation of thrips with my roses last year so it clued me in as to what may cause the damages on AW foliage. Also, not all the stems on the same bush are affected. Only one or two are so I guess it is more likely to be a pest than a disease. I found out just now that Spinosad maybe a good organic treatment. Neem is another good choice. Thanks for the suggestion, Anya.