Great price, just plant them and wait. The grow very nicely in semi shade. I have about ten of these puppies and one thing I learned that some of them take a little longer to bloom, one peonie that I planted about 4-5 years ago will finaly bloom this year, other bloomed the next year. Where did you get them for that price?

I was able to pick the two up at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington during their recent plant sale. The other I purchased from a nursery but he gave me a deal as the tag states they are a purple variety and once they had bloomed in his greenhouse they were a deep fuschia. So I got that one for 20.00.

Someone told me that once they have finished flowering that I should cut back the stems to encourage bushier growth for the next few years. Is this a good idea???

Laura

Not yet. Any pruning should be done in the fall. Rick Rogers of Brothers Peonies recomends several different methods of pruning. Other than removing the dead tips this fall nothing should be pruned for a couple of years. Depending on the cultivar and what you want, planting the plant deeper will encourage stem growth from below the ground. You may either leave these or prune at soil surface depending on if you wish a tree shape or a shrub. With a shrub you will have more blooms. My thought is if the plant is one with a straight stem growth form a tree but if it is considered a relaxed or semi-relaxed tps look better as a shrub.

Color of the flowers are effected by soil and growing conditions esp this year so the color could vary from the nursery to your place. This year my reds and deep pinks of the herbaceous have a similar shade of deep lavender pink. Very few are the deep blood red of the past years.