Dear Deprived Wife:

If you don't mind a somewhat long story, I'll be more than happy to provide you with my recommendations along with helpful reference resources to better come to your own conclusions.

Many decades ago, my maternal grandmother gave my mother and father what they refered to as a "Memorial Day" peony before I was a gleam in their eye. True to its name, the nice, fragrant, double blooming red Peony always came into bloom during the week of Memorial Day.

When my mother passed away a few years ago, my daughter, Heather, lifted this "heritage" Peony, divided it, and shared the division with her own family, her first cousin, Denise and her family, and the oldest of my two younger sisters.

I am pleased to say that each of the divisions has been doing well with my daughter's doing the best of the three - simply because she is a more thoughtful gardener. Am I bragging a bit - yep, but just a little.

At the time of this sharing, our now emerging garden was only a figment of my imagination and I decided that I would attempt to obtain this "heritage" peony later.

Late last summer, I decided that I would add a few Peonies to our slowly evolving patio garden area and again thought of purchasing a "Memorial Day" peony of my own, since the newly divided divsions were too young to re-divide once again. Unfortunately, I had no idea of the "correct" name of this particular Peony.

With a little research - namely through an excellent book, which I will reference later, and several Internet searches, I discovered that there are actually two "Memorial Day" peonies - one is a deep pink and the other is, of course, the deep red one, the one which I knew as a kid.

My next researches were geared towards evaluating various Peonies varieties and, especially, the sources from which they can be obtained. As the result of this combined and somewhat lengthy search, I finally decided to place an order with A & D Nursery located in the State of Washington. So I called them up and spoke, I believe, with the owner and was most pleased with his knowledge, his patience (especially - since they were beginning their shipping season) and his responses to my several questions.

Within a few days, I placed an order for two "Philippe Revoire's", one "Chestine Gowdy", whose unique form and colorations intrigue me greatly, and one "Florence Nicholls". Unfortunately, "Chestine Gowdy" is not listed as available this year so you cannot "see" her photograph at their web page.

Before their arrival, there was a change of my own gardening design intentions. I had originally decided to flank "Florence Nicholls" with the two "Philippe Revoire's", in the front (west) part of the patio garden and place "Chestine Gowdy" off to the side.

I then decided that "Chestine Gowdy" should be made the center of attention, a decision which meant that I then had one lone white Peony on just one side of the south side of our patio garden. Since the garden was now "out of balance", - at least in my mind - I decided to add another, but different, white Peony to the north side of our patio garden. So after looking again at the array of "candidates" I placed an order for "Moon Over Barrington", who by the way was hybridized by Klehm of Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery noted below.

Since A & D hadn't "placed" my order in line as yet, I was able to add the "Moon Over Barrington" to my original order and thus cut down on the shipping costs of a full second order. Obviously, I was more than happy that they were able to accomodate me in this manner.

There were, of course, several other reasons that I choose to place an order with A & D Nursery.

The first and minor reason was that nearly all of their photographs of Peonies were sharp, clear, and distinct. Having been a photographer for many decades, I well appreciate the fact that someone bothered to care enough to place excellent photographs of their offerings.

I was extremely pleased with the patience and the reponses given to me by the owner of this nursery when I called with several questions during the beginning of their shipping season. The fact that they were willing to spend a few minutes answering a few questions from a then potential customer impressed me greatly.

I was also greatly impressed by the extensive array of Peonies being offered. I may be wrong, but I believe they have one of the largest selections available.

Of course, the greatest pleasure and satisfaction came from seeing the actual "proof of the pudding", when I saw the quality of their roots and care of their packing upon opening my order. I have never seen such large, lovely peony roots in my life and so well packed.

I was so impressed with their products and service that I posted my comments at the "Garden Watchdog", whose site is listed below. Link to the site below and then scroll down to read the comments. I'm "wharrison".

Obviously, A & D Nursery isn't the only high quality peony source available to you. There are several others with whom I was also impressed - particularly "Song Sparrow Nursery" (formerly "Klehm's" Nursery in Illinois). "Klehm's" was or still is an extensive and very well known hybridizer of Peonies. I am certain that other readers of this forum will provide you with their own set of additional recommendations.

The main reason that I didn't place an order with Klehm's was that I wanted "Chestine Gowdy" and didn't wish to incur shipping costs of placing two orders from two different firms.

By the way, I just searched their site and made a comparison of the photographs of "Philippe Revoir". The A & D Nursery is sharp at the point of focus and becomes blurry due to depth of field, while the photograph of the same peony isn't sharp at any point at Klehm's. Minor differences - perhaps - for many peony lovers - and I suspect that some folks might think - wrongly - that I am a "nit-picker", - however if you looking for bloom, leaf, bark, or overall plant detail, which might be necessary for the selection of plants to be chosen or truly identified - these minor attributes can become important in making one's decision.

My wasn't that a mouthful of a paragraph. ;>)

I was also surprised that Klehm's doesnt' offer one of their own creations - namely "Moon Over Barrington" - referring, I think to the town of Barrington, IL in north eastern Illinois near where they were originally located. It's a beautifully formed white Peony!!

About the issue of "prices". Since Peonies last for a few hundred years and since we will enjoy their beauty and fragrance for nearly half or more of that time, the payment of $20.00 to $30.00 per Peony seems like a mere drop in the bucket. I am - to make use of one of Mark Twain's comments - reaching the "threshold of old age" and will be 65 in September. While I don't suspect I'll be enjoying my peonies for the next hundred years, I do plan to fully enjoy their beauty until I embark up a final project.

Of course, I will admit that the purchase of five Peonies at one time came to a small chunk of change and put a small dent in our pocket book. Nevertheless, what is a small dent when compared to many years of enjoyment. Not much!

So a little patience, planning, and budgeting will go a long way in the creation and beautification of one's emerging/evolving garden. This is one of the reasons why our garden is still evolving - one due to the available budget and two to the overall design of the place. Most likely, I will purchase a few more Peonies over the next few years, but the ones I did purchase did fill in a much needed gap and I am anxiously looking forward to their bloom within the next few weeks. Can't wait - hardly!!

Oh yes, I will eventually purchase a "Memorial Day" peony and perhaps a few others in the near future, when the current "gaps" in the garden become filled with beauty.

Now that you have my recommendations, here are a few links for you to enjoy and reference.

A & D Nursery"

Klehm's Song Sparrow

In addition to your online searches, you may also wish to read and enjoy one of the best books on the subject of Peonies. It's written by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall and the title is "Peonies".

I have her book in my personal library and concur with the Amazon reader who said:

"If you are a peony lover, you will treasure this book. Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall not only knows her peonies and traces their fascinating history through the imperial courts of China and Japan, but she interweaves this with a history of how peonies have been used in paintings and porcelain. The beautiful pictures included not only show the various peony cultivars, but show the peony as it is used in Asian porcelains, paintings and European paintings. This book and its photographs are so lovely, that I expected to pay much more for it. It's a bargain, if you are a peony lover. Al Rogers "Peonies" is a bit more explicit about growing and cultivation, but this book compliments his, because of the romance it brings to the peony. It is also practical, listing the cultivars, showing many pictures, and recommending the more successful cultivars. If you love peonies and want to know more about their place in history, I heartily recommend Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Peonies.""
Here's a link:

Peonies

Copies are also available through or at your local public library and through either one of the two bookseller sources noted below.

abe.com

or

alibris.com

Finally, if you still in the process of making your decision(s) as to which Peony to add to your garden, my final recommendation is to make use of the excellent resource - "PlantFinder - within the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis and use this excellent resource in conjunction with various other resources.

If you have the chance, please do stop by and plan to spend to spend the minium of 1.5 exploring this sumptuous garden complete with indoor and outdoor, restaurant areas, a gift, book, and plant shop, exhibition halls, tours, etc.

A "virtual tour" can be found at this link and the one below it.

Garden Virtual Tour

More Detailed Garden Tour

Missouri Botanical Garden

Here the direct link to one of the white peonies I once considered for my garden. Once you link to this particular page, you will note a link to "Search Participating Nurseries and Garden Centers" near the top center of the page.

Paeonia lactiflora 'Duchesse de Nemours'

And here's the link to their superb "Search" tool. Enjoy your online explorations!!

PlantFinder Search

Well, I do believe that this is more than enough information to get you started.

Best wishes in your gardening endeavors.

Bill

William Harrison

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Watchdog - A & D Nursery

If you really want old cultivars look North to Canada for your suppliers. Go to the Canadian Peony Society and look at the links.

The reason Hillary is so expensive now is it is a cross between a tree and herbaceaous peony. The prices will come down but by then there will be a new hot peony.

I'm in Oregon and have visited these 2 businesses on their open house days. It was much fun. Caprice Farm Nursery and Adelman Peony Gardens. Both provide the best in quality roots each fall and have superb customer service. I recommend both.

Whie Flower Farm in Connecticut offers a peony collection. Since my climate/weather are similar to theirs, I'm ordering for planting this fall. Now, all I have to do is build a bed to grow them in.

I'll second Klehm's as a good supplier of peonies - not the cheapest, but you'll get a good blooming-sized division for your money. I got 'Philippe Rivoire,' 'Chiffon Clouds,' and 'Port Royale' from them.

I also highly recommend Hollingsworth's Peony Nursery (www.hollingsworthpeonies.com). They sent me huge peony roots last fall, and they're blooming already in my garden. They sent VERY nice plants. Like Klehm's nursery, they hybridize their own as well as sell other varieties. I'm planning on ordering 'Sandra Marie' from them for this fall.

I've purchased a handful of peonies from G. H. Wild's nursery (online I think its www.gilberthwild.com). They often have sales, and are a good way to try older varieties on the cheap. Their root divisions are smaller (you could plant two at a time together to get a full clump quicker), but even so about half of them are already blooming their first year in my garden.

Laurel

I can only think of www.goldenport.com for Chinese tree and herbaceous peonies, and they sell Japanese peonies as well. The prices for the tree peonies are on the higher end, somewhere from $49 to $99 for a 3-year old tree, bare root and most with over ten eyes. The herbaceous peonies are less expensive, compared to tree peonies. I bought 2 from them 3 years ago. One of them is doing very well. However, they sent me a wrong tree, but it happens to be the one that is doing very well. the other one, I don't know what happened, it bloomed the first Spring after planting and it never bloomed again since then. They offered to give me a discount on a future purchase, which I haven't taken advantage of yet as I do not have my own garden. My two babies are currently some 30 miles away in a friend's garden. Golden Port International has beautiful photos of the flowers, if you end up getting a hardy one and the right one, it might be worth it cos they are simply beautiful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Port International