Thanks - just ordered 3 peonies, 3 daylilies, 3 hostas. I started gardening from them with iris and daylilies.

Liz, when do they usually ship their peony roots? Is it like September or October. I ordered some from Michigan Bulbs and they told me end of September. Of course they already charge my CC. This is my first time ever buying bareroots online.

Just looked on their (Gilberthwild) webpage for my current order, it's scheduled to be shipped Sept 15th. Most companies have a shipping schedule based on your zone, think most of them ship in September for zone 5. They can't ship too late if they're digging fresh to fill orders, think most of them are zone 5-6 so they won't be digging later than the first part of October, think?
I just slipped in a small order with Peonies Plus (Washington) and it's supposed to be shipped out this week. I actually called them because their website said orders were closed out for the year, talked to Frank in the field digging peonies for shipping! He checked and they still had most of what I wanted so let me order late, said mine would be in the mail the next day (today), WHOOOHOO, the peony planting madness is about to start!

Talking of Michigan Bulb, I actually ordered 3 white tree peonies from them several years ago, they had a 3/1 sale and got them for $9.95. They aren't very impressive flowers but they gave me the confidence that I could grow them, got 2 more this spring and have ordered a few more for the fall. MB's plants are tiny but they stand behind their guarantee, will even replace peonies no questions asked. Most of the peony growers won't replace bareroots unless you call them immediately upon receipt with issues.

Can I plant these bareroots in a 3gal pots and keep them in a garage in the winter? We want to redo our front lawn next spring, instead of this fall.If not, then I guess we'll have to do our front lawn this fall.

Liz, Thanks for the heads up on the peony sale at Gilbert H. Wild's. I sent in my order for 15 plants, they have a wonderful selection. I wanted to place my order before they ran out. Some of them are Bo-Peep, Friendship, Sword Dance, Solange and Lady Alexander Duff, as you can see I like the Japanese form. Delivery is slated for mid September. When I checked out I was given an option of entering a code for a free plant. I entered the word UP like you suggested and I'm not sure what it did, but they did accept it. Postage is $3.00 which makes me wonder if the first 12 are free and then $1.00 per plant after 12. So now I know what I'll be doing over the next month, preparing their new homes. So now I just have to wait until spring to see what's going to bloom, winter is just too long sometimes. Janice

Hi Janice, glad it worked out for you! The UP code was supposed to take an extra 10% off the total for the plants. Look at the receipt they emailed to you and make sure it worked, if not, call them! They typically do have a lot of "free postage" offers, they always tack on that $3 charge for packing, though. Prices are good enough that I never quibbled but it does seem silly, doesn't it?

I have Friendship, Sword Dance and Lady Alexander Duff--each bloomed for the first time last spring, you got some good ones! I also ordered Solange for this fall, sounds like we have similar tastes in peony blooms!

Again, the only complaint I've ever seen about GHW is sending wrong plants which is a pretty serious complaint. They've always responded well when I had a issue before. Make sure you mark your plants, even if it's just putting the tag that comes with the root on a landscape staple/spike and putting it near the plant. Check the flower against the APS databank to make sure they sent the correct plant. Contact them if they sent the wrong thing and you're unhappy about it!

Good luck with your new plants! I, too, am anxiously looking forward to spring and HOPEFULLY lots of blooms from new peonies!

Here is a link that might be useful: American Peony Society Peony Databank

Joopster, sorry, didn't see the question about the pots. I know it can be done, Calistoga routinely writes about doing it, especially for Itohs. I don't think I'd try it unless I was burying the pots in the ground since we border on being zone 4. Guess it really depends on your zone, I'd probably try it if you were zone 7 or higher, maybe even zone 6. Don't know about the garage, though, peonies need a period of cold to signal them to start growing. Another thing you'd want to make sure and watch is water--too wet and the roots will rot. I'd look back several pages, think he (Calistoga) discussed pots early in the spring this year, I know I asked him a few questions about the process and he ties one of the threads back to a blog he does, lots of good info. For my zone 5, almost down to zone 4, I'd put all of the roots in the ground unless they were tiny. The ones you get from GHW should be decent sized, certainly not small enough to need babying. If you're zone 7 or higher and pots make your garden changes easier I'd go for it but probably leave them outside rather than in the garage, maybe with a tarp like Calistoga does for the worst of the cold weather. Good luck!

Liz

Liz,
I found a great site to see peony blooms and it's really easy to use with lots of pictures. Just what I need to do is look at more plants and fall in love with them. Noticed an orange one called Bodacious Orange. Wonder if it's a tree peony? Janice

Here is a link that might be useful: Heartland Peony Society

Hi again Janice! I googled Bodaceous Orange peony and the results came back indicating it's a tree peony, here's an old post from this forum actually from what sounds to be the breeder with an email address, don't know if it's still good or not. Liz

Orange Peonies

â¢Posted by dlorah 3 (My Page) on
Thu, Jan 27, 11 at 17:59

I have true orange peonies in singles to semi-doubles some are orange with yellow edges, orange with red flairs.named bodacious orange and vivid orange e-mail me for pictures and prices at herr_old@yahoo.com