I've bought mine from local True Value Hardware stores. Later I found that they were not quite tall enough but did help. I'll probably still use them for the base and will tie and stake the taller stems.

I got ours from the local Meijer store. They are like short fatter tomato cages. Work quite well for lots of uses in my garden. Run between .75 to $1.
I have seen some REALLY nice Peony cages at Garden centers, much heavier gauge wire, taller and larger around than my cheap ones. Wire almost as thick as a pencil, but quite light. Might be some sort of aluminum since they were about $5 each.
I found a ton of uses for the Peony cages, work for many plants besides Peonies.

If you have no cages you probably would do well to buy some. Constructing your own is time consuming, can be frustrating. My cheap cages are quite sturdy, have lasted for years with lots of uses. Cheaper to buy than make my own.

What I have made are some of the single wire stakes with a loop top, to hold a single flower up or tall stems. Those are easy and fast. I have a roll of smooth wire for fence fixing at the farm so cutting off a piece is quick. Bend wire in two places and stake is done.

I have four extra peony supports that I bought from Wayside Gardens. They are nice and tall. They have four legs. They are working nicely in my garden.

If you send me your address, I'll happily send them to you for the price I paid ($5 each), plus postage. You can send me the $$ and postage after you receive them.

When I mail ordered them I thought I was buying three hoops. Instead I was buying three sets of three hoops. My email address is westhighlandblue@hotmail.com.

Or you can buy them yourself directly from Wayside Gardens. I am sure I'll eventually find some use for the extra hoops, in my own garden.

A tip I learned here years ago is to use lamp shades - just remove the fabric. I search out yard sales or watch what people put out for garbage pick up, and have acquired a few. Certain shapes work better than others.

I hate throwing anything away and i use old Giant Tomatoe cages... they hold up well and it is hard to beat the price.. i have a 10 foot row of about 6 separate plants. they are up about 1 1/2 ft tall. the smaller green cages are at the bottom and then i overtop them with the tall cages for bloom support.
I love Peonies!! i will keep my eyes open for old lamp shades! thanks!

use heavy string around the plant to hold upright after buds form. But you must not bunch the plant tightly and after the blooms are done cut the string or yarn so that lots of air will flow through the leaves and stems to prevent fungus.

I had not thought of the lamp shades. That must be why I see old lamps but seldom a shade.

I have over the years purchased grid type supports, I now have 25 but the cost is about $15 each and from now on I will be making my own. Al

I have seen folks suggest using the round grills from a cooking grill, as a plant support. They add some wire or stick legs and allow peonies or taller, floppy plant to grow up thru the grill. They say it works pretty well. They get the grills from checking local trash on trash day too! Everyone around here has square grills to throw away, and that usually has corners that stick out of plant if used as a support. However, free is a good price, and even if corner shows, plant stays upright.

I have peony supports that I bought from Klehm's over 30 years ago. I put them around the peonies when they are planted, and leave them there. Klehm's are now called Song Sparrow. They come 6 to a box.

I've heard to just put chicken wire over top when the shoots are just coming up. They grow through the holes and then the chicken wire goes up with the plant. I'm just trying this for the first time this spring, so I'll know how well it works in 4-6 weeks :^)

Laurie

Several years ago, I bought quite a few supports consisting of a round grill with four legs. The legs are secured by having the end of the leg looped over the edge wire of the grill. They are very sturdy, and work well, but they are not tall enough for my taller peonies. They were a bit pricy, since I needed a couple of dozen.

I decided not to pay $48 for supports that would be plenty tall enough, and instead bought a cheaper model that was taller than what I had, but shorter than the $48 model. My tall supports consist of three metal stakes, each having two loops , one at the top and one about halfway down. Two wire rings are supplied that go around the peonies and through the loops. Today, to provide additional height, I taped the stakes from a second support onto the stakes to of a suppport that was not quite tall enough for the peony that I had it around. It would probably have been better to solder the stakes together, but I think this will work.

This morning, I saw the taller supports taht I have in K-Mart for $4+.

I bought mine from Lowe's. They have three posts attached to the hoop. The fact they are green is great because I can't seen them once the peonies have reached their desired height. I don't recall how much they were, but they couldn't have been much otherwise I wouldn't have bought them.

H

laurie z3, How did the chicken wire work out? Thanks, JK

I used 2" chicken wire cut in approx. 2 x 2 foot sections on the plants when they started to come up, but I had to move them up periodically with the growth; they did not go up by themselves.
When peony growth stopped, I bent some edges of the chicken wire around some links of the chain-link fence behind my peonies to make certain the chicken wire was supported. Worked fine, but my plants are still small- around 1 1/2 - 2 feet high. I suppose 3 stakes could be placed equally around the peony and used to hold the chicken wire in place, as well. A lot cheaper than buying those grid supports!! You could even spray paint them green.