This is the time of the year that tenifolia's go dormant. It may or may not come back next spring. This is one of the reasons they are so expensive in that they like what they like and seldom will live where they are not happy. This is not something you have done but the nature of this type of plant. I would put a little more soil on the top since you are in Wisconsin to prevent freeze and thaw heave.

Hi Halm,

i promise not to lose your notes and guidelines for survival!

You can find a list of all your posts here at this forum, by putting your member name in the search box just below the list of threads on page one.

hth...

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: 'there's' your post!

My fernleaf peony dried up pretty early the first year it was in the garden. I did continue to water, but still lost one of 3 plants which I got rather inexpensively. Sure glad of that! The second year they bloomed and stayed greem longer into summer. Plants were a bit fuller. But they were gone by August.

This year, 3rd, they bloomed very nicely, pretty full foliage. I laid down soaker hoses in that bed, mulched over it, not over plant stems and have used the hoses during dry spells. Plants are still looking pretty nice, just a bit dry at the edges now.

I would give your plant some time to grow, develop, help with extra water during dry times. The other peony plants in bed also like the extra water, have developed into full, strong plants.

My original 3 fernleaf plants were TINY, tubers about size of your little finger, 3 of them. Sure was glad they were cheap compared to catalog plants, because I figured they would die. So much for bargin hunting! I won't do that again, the suspense until spring sprouting was terrible!!

Mine are in a bed by large Oaks, with morning sun, partial shade in the afternoon. I think the trees drink a lot of moisture, so the soaker hose is helpful to the peonies.

I really like how they sprout first of all the peonies, with the funny, fur hat looking buds. Love the lacy leaves. Mine are very shallow in the dirt, barely covered. Heard too many stories of peony failure with deep planting. I put some shredded leaf mulch on them each fall, easy to push thru, attracts worms to loosen the soil. Our dirt has a bit of clay, so gets hard without the leaves.

Good luck with your plants. If it sprouted, bloomed last spring, I would not worry about it. Sounds happy to me! Just needs to grow up some more. Give it a bit of leaf cover with shredded leaves this fall and enjoy it next spring. I would continue to water that area, even if foliage dies back before the other plants do in fall.

One of the worse things you can do for P. tenuifolia is to plant it in a wet location. The plant needs to be on the dry side during winter. I have mine in a raised bed with sand added to improve drainage. Fern-leaf peonies multiply rapidly when they are happy. It is surprising how fast they multiply. I usually plant mine shallow also but they seem to re-adjust themselves much deeper. I notice that some buds will emerge from roots as deep as 8 inches below ground surface.

It seems a lot of people have trouble growing the plant; I think it is mostly due to placing it in an incorrect site. This year we had good moisture all summer long and my fern-leaf peonies held the foliage well all summer. The foliage has just recently dried up. I have one location at the base of a retaining wall where there is still green fernleaf foliage at September 10th.

There are several fern-leaf selections around. P. tenuifolia 'bieberstaniana' is one of the most coarse of the fern-leaf foliages; it is suppose to flower later also but I have not noticed that in my garden. I am uncertain what 'itoba' really is; if it is a selection of species fernleaf or if it is some type of hybrid. The foliage is considerably more coarse than P. ten 'bieberstaniana'. 'Itoba' does not seem to want to set seed for me and I wonder if it may be sterile which may mean it is not a species peony.

The other single forms of species P. tenuifolia vary in coarseness. I consider P. ten. 'rosea' to be a medium coarse fernleaf. The flowers are pink however they do not show up well in the garden and appear to be bland when compared to the lipstick red of the other tenuifolias.

P. ten. rubra plena flora (Double fern-leaf) has the most fine foliage of all the fern-leafs. The foliage is almost feather-like. I love the foliage of this one and the flowers seem to just turn inside out and create the most dazelling display in early spring. It is still my favorite of all of the fern-leafs.

Fern-leaf peonies go dormant early and should be divided or transplanted rather early in fall. They begin to sprout new feeder roots early on so you want to get them into place early.

I am still looking for a plant of the white fern-leaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia 'alba'). Is there anyone out there that is growing this plant?

The link below is an article that has a photo of P. tenuifolia rosea and P. tenuifolia 'alba'.

Leon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paeonia tenuifolia