Lots of gardens listed but not a single one in Colorado! Didn't even see the Denver Botanical Garden listed, they do have a few.....are there many in your area, Kousa?

Hi Liz! Sorry to hear that there are no places near you. You maybe the peonies pioneer in your area. Your garden of peonies maybe the only peony garden in your area. You can start your own peony chapter in your area to educate and garner interest in peonies. You can get peonies vendors to donate peonies to a botanical garden near you. This is something that Adriana of the Southern Peonies blog did recently and had great success. I would be happy to donate a few peonies to your botanical garden if you do decide to pursue this.

Yes, I live within driving distance to some of the botanical gardens in Philly and New York City. They are 2-3 hours away. I have never been there though I may try to make it to these gardens during peonies blooming season this year.

Hi Kousa! The thought of organizing a peony chapter terrifies me!!! I'm much more a follower rather than a leader. And I can barely tell a herbaceous from a tree peony! I've certainly learned a lot since I found this forum so maybe in a few years I might work up the courage!

I AM going to visit the University of Michigan's peony garden this spring, though. We planned a girl's trip to a small lake in MI (my mother-in-law lives a couple of hours away from it) before I even realized UofM had peonies! I'll be dragging my mother, mother-in-law, 2 sisters, 2 nieces and my daughter along! I've already started one of my sisters on peonies, sent several divisions to her in OK last fall. Hopefully she'll be bitten by the peony bug, too!!

I'm also going to the American Peony Society Convention this spring. Another of those fortuitous discoveries, it's happening just a couple of hours from where we'll be vacationing on the weekend we were supposed to fly back. Since I hadn't made flight arrangements at the time it was an easy decision to stay a few more days to attend. I plan to keep my mouth shut, ears open and camera clicking away the whole time! If anyone has specific questions about any variety mention it--I'll keep an eye out and get pics and descriptions.

Liz my husband and I did a garden vacation three years ago in the spring and visited three wonderful gardens in your area. Longwood, Winterthur and Chanticleer. They are all amazing gardens and well worth the drive.
Longwood has formal gardens and it's huge. Winterthur is more naturalistic and reminded me of where I work at The Holden Arboretum. It has some beautiful tree peonies. Chanticleer was my favorite because I loved the design and plant pairings.

I think that you mean me, not Liz, Jackie. I live near Philly but Liz lives in CO, quite a distance from the east coast. Believe it or not, I have lived close to and visited Philly very frequently but I have never been to Winterthur nor Chanticleer. I had been to Longwood once during a summer and hadn't been back since. My sister in law who lives in TX had visited Longwood Garden 4 times since she married my brother.

Liz, it is great that you are introducing your sisters and mother to peonies. I think they will catch the peonies bug when the time is right for them. You will have a swell time in Michigan U and the American Peony Convention. Wish you a great peony blooming season at home.

Whoops! Sorry Kousa! You should definitely take a trip to Chanticleer. It's really charming.

The American Peony Society has a new web page listing public peony gardens. There is one in Colorado listed there...

http://www.americanpeonysociety.org/links/peony-gardens