1. It takes around 5-6 years to get flowers.

2. Yes, by grafting. Read here: http://www.peonies.org/grafting/

5-6 years once they germinate. Plant now and they may not germinate until next spring.

If the seeds are from this years blooming plant as soon as the pods open and the germination generally will be better than if you wait.

Kobota

I seriously doubt that your seeds are ready to plant now. The carpels at the end of the peony stems are the seed pods. I would think that since you are in zone 5 the carpels will not begin to split open until sometime in September. As soon as they begin to split open you can harvest the seed. Plant them right away. If the seeds are fertile they will sprout a short root this fall. The seedlings will emerge next spring. If the seed throughly dry out before being planted, the sprouting will be delayed and most likely the seed will not sprout until next fall and the seedlings emerge spring of 2007.

The important thing is to get them planted as soon as possible. The seed necessarily need the winter chill for the seedlings to emerge in the spring after they have had some time in the ground during warm fall days. The natural freezing and thawing process that nature provides seems to do a much better job than trying to artificially provide this indoors. Believe me, I have tried it. Nothing is better than Mother Nature.

Her is the leading expert on this.... He can tell you how this is done.
If you are interested in growing tree peonies from seed and not talking grafting, then this is the "Man" that can help. He collects rare seeds from all over the world, China, Russia etc. and propegates them. You can also catch him on the Yahoo Groups.

It takes about a year to get a Tree Peony Seed to the size of a potted plant.

Dr. Carsten Burkhardt, Kolkwitz, Germany

http://www.hillkeep.ca/ts%20paeonia.htm

Web Project Paeonia www.pfingstrosen.net = www.paeo.de
Fachgruppe Päonien www.pfingstrosen.org = www.paeonia.de
Lausitzer Pfingstrosen www.pfingstrosen.com = www.rockii.de

Will McLewin is also worth mentioning, he sells excellent seeds and import Chen Dezhong's beautiful P. rockii cultivars: http://www.phedar.com/peony2.html

I have germinate tree peony seeds October last year. Now I have about 10 seedings with one or two leaves in the basement. It takes more than one year to see to leaves.

I know it is like poppies, but. My plants are still thriving and stay green untill the snow fall. Then I cut them down and cover with 5 gallon buckets. This works well threw the winter.

So, how do I let the pods get dried to get the dark seeds?

Thank you so much.

Maybe its just "beginners luck" but I started planting tree peony seeds in November 2010 in a ziplock baggy inside my house for 6 weeks. Then I moved them into the garage for until the roots started branching out which took about 4 weeks. Now they are currently on my kitchen table with 3 leaves and they are about 7 to 8 inches tall. All this was done in a matter of months. So it is possible to get leaves in less than a year! I was also mailed some around November in ziplocks that were already growing roots and they are about 4 inches tall with 3 leaves growing on them. I can't wait to get more seed to plant more. Its been quite fun!!!

In my book "Park's Success with Seeds" it says to grow peonies at 70 degrees until roots form, then refrigerate or keep outside if it's cold, for 8-10 weeks, then keep growing medium at 70 degrees, and leaves should form in up to two months. I'm doing it "by the book", so we shall see...

A dear friend recently gave me some tree peony seed pods. I shelled them and put the seeds in a moist paper towel inside a resealable plastic bag on Feb 21 and placed it on top of a flourescient shop light I use for growing hosta seeds. Germination took place in about a week. I planted the rooted seeds in 72 hole inserts in 10-20 flats and when the roots started growing out of the bottom of the inserts I potted them up in 16 oz styro cups. I have potted 100-plus seedlings some of which are showing their 5th true leaf (the seeds are dicot's so the first two leaves are actually from the seed. Maybe beginers luck but so far easy as pie. Now, do I plant them when the conditions are right or move them to gallon pots for another year?

IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/seedseller1/TreePeoniesMar2611.jpg[/IMG]

Seedseller,
Tp seedlings seem happy to stay in pots for two or three years.
First year seedlings are so tiny that, when put in garden, they get overwhelmed by weeds and disappear; all of our 2008 seedlings were lost this way.

Seedseller, was that the photo you meant to display? Those don't look like peony seedlings to me....

Here is a link that might be useful:

I let the flower heads mature last year without clipping them off until the leaves fell. This spring in random places I had germinated tree peonies. The trick now is keeping the rabbits off them.