That is exciting!! You must have a lot of space! Looking forward to your bloom report in the Spring. Pictures too??

I was glad to hear that the divisions looked good...at around $4 each, you sometimes get what you pay for. These seem very promising.

Congrats on all your babies!
Judye

It will be hard to tell, because it might take a couple years for these to settle in and bloom for you. Also, as a peony gets older (or at least in my experience) they seem to mature into their bloom. At the price you got these peonies for, I guess I wouldn't be overly concerned if a couple were mis-named, they will still be wonderful plants. If for some reason you do come up with some mis-named ones, just call Gilbert Wild and ask they if they can remedy the situation. The key is to ask nicely. Places like GW deal with thousands of orders a year and sometimes mistakes happen. Enjoy your new peonies!! I was bad this year and only bought one new peony and I've promptly lost the tag for it. But I know where I got it, so... :)

Have fun!

Diann
IA Z5a

Madspinner I just got my order of sale peonies from Wild's too and they were all at least 5 eye divisions.
I was extremely pleased as usual.

I must say that the first year I ordered from them I only ordered two peonies. They were smaller than the ones I just received and yet they bloomed the very next spring.

PS - I love the pics on your member page. Which rose is that? And I LOVE the chickens. They're so cool.

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures on my member page.

The rose is a mystery rose that was found in my area by a friend where she was renting. It is some sort of Gallica/china hybrid of somekind, an antique rose. I have a few diffrent ones on my list of suspects, including Belle de Crecy, Duc de Angoulme, and one or two others whose descriptions and photos look a lot like it. So far, the best bet is Duc de Angoulme (not Duchess de Angoulme which is a pink gallica), and so far two folks who grow it say it looks just like it.

I like my chickens too... I have 10 hens and a rooster. The rooster is the black on in the picture.

Yes I have lots of space. I live on about 20 acres, but my garden area is a small fenced area near the house. Or at least the cottage garden area. I still have not come close to filling it all up, as I've only been here for 3 years, and I havn't had tons of time. Still lots of room for more plants, much of it is still grass. I only have one corner almost full and with official paths and everything. And a section of the front is raised veggie beds and where I keep all my potted babies till they can be planted. I have all my peonies, and about 30 roses from cuttings waiting to be planted.

I'm very excited... a lot of folks talk about their Gilbert H Wild peonies blooming the next spring... I hope a few of mine do too. My peonies that I brought with me when I moved are only just starting to get going... I still have a couple that have not bloomed yet, and one or two that only had one flower this year. My established and large Shirley Temple was a sight to see this year though. I gave a sick friend a vase full of that peony combined with pink lupines, the David Austin rose Heritage, some other roses (mostly old kinds), pink snapdragons, and wild daisies and she was just thrilled.

Oh that arrangement sounds just heavenly. I would've been thrilled too!
Your rooster is really striking. I'd love to paint him. Anyway, here's a pic of one of my Wild's peonies the very next season. It's called Hit Parade and it was one of my favorites. I just ordered another one.

{{gwi:1137436}}

If you like cottage gardening you should check out the Winter Sowing forum. It's a great way to get a lot of plants for not much money.

I bought 22 varieties for 99 bucks this fall. They were all labeled and look great. This is my big purchase for the fall and I am very much looking forward to seeing if they are true. It would be lovely if some bloom next year.
Better Times
Carol
Early Scout
Edulis Superba
George W. Payton
Jacob Styer
Kathryn Fonteyn
Krinkled White
Lillian Wild
Longfellow
Madame de Verneville
Mary Brand
Mons. Jules Elie
Mother's Choice
Myra McRae
Paul M. Wild
Ruth Cobbs
Shirley Temple
Simple Simon
Solange
Victoirs de la Marne
Winged Victory

I see you have some different varieties. I now want them too :-)

Jackie O - that Hit Parade is Gorgeous!

Thank you Sunflower! They haven't had it listed the past two years, but they had it again this year so I jumped on it and bought some more.
(We moved the year after that pic was taken and I managed to lose Hit Parade. I know I dug it up with the others, but it's not here so either I lost it in the move or it died for some reason)
The one I got last month of Hit Parade had about eight eyes on it, so I'm really looking forward to some blooms this spring.

Now YOU have way more than I do. You MUST post pictures for us next year okay?

I'll be sure to do that. I love taking pictures of my babies. I just have to get used to the freedom of a digital camera and not be too stingy on the picture taking.

Sunflower_ILz5

Yeah, digital picture taking is very freeing... and I like knowing right off if I've gotten a shot that pleases me or if I need to keep working on it. Lets me think about composition and lighting a bit more and see my results.

The one down side I have with my particular camera (it is a Kodak) is that there is a delay between when I push the button and when the shot is actually taken. A long delay. These means if I am shoting anything moving, it is not where it was when I clicked the button. I tried taking pics whale watching and missed some spectacular shots because of this. Argh. The only time I wish I had brought a disposable camera with me too! Nothing like having a whale only feeet from you as you stand on the rocks, and not be able to get a shot of it!

But it takes WONDERFUL close ups of flowers so I won't gripe too much.

You have some on your list that you got that are ones I have really wanted too. But the flyer I bought from had the most that I really wanted. I ended up gettting Krinkled White from a boxed store... I sure hope it is the real thing. Sounds lovely. I prefer the big bomb types, but I havn't really seen a peony I don't like... singles are nice too.

I'll be sure to take pictures of any of mine that bloom too. I'm particularly curious about one of mine (I'll have to go look at my list and check back) that had the wrong pic on my flyer and I havn't found another picture of yet. I know itis the wrong picture, as the same pic was used TWICE on the flyer. I'm pretty sure the picture is of Gardenia, as it was used for it and fits the description. The other peony was supposed to be pink I think, yet still had the white picture used for Gardenia. A printing error I am sure... so I am curious as to what the other one should look like. I'll post what it is when I go look it up.

I also have a Kodak I ought a couple years ago. I really like the pictures it takes, but I do have to wait a bit of time between taking pictures.

Last summer my aunt gave my Mom their Mom's single white peony. Mom is in the middle of landscaping, so she had to put it in a temporary location that is a bit shady, but it is growing (although it did not bloom this year.) It is the one plant Mom wanted. Grandma passed away before I was born.

10 of my 22 peonies have started to poke up out of the ground. I hope I planted them eyes up. I mulched them quite a lot since I was more interested in them surviving the first winter than in them blooming the first spring.

I already have a list going of peonies under consideration for planting next fall. I am looking for variety in color form and bloom time. Huge banks of a single variety look fabulous, but I cannot for myself pick just a few varieties. ;-)

All of the ones from Wilds are putting out leaves here. I'm sure at least a couple of them are likely to bloom.

Mulch is great to keep weeds out of them, but don't worry about them surviving the winter... peonies are nearly indistructable. Folks grow them in Canada and Alaska without trouble. They dislike places that are too warm more than anyplace cold so you should be just fine.

All the peonies I've bought from Wild's have always been good. Once I got three of the wrong variety, I let them know about the mistake, and they sent me three replacements, no problems. The kicker is that I like the "mistake" ones more than I like the ones I ordered! And most of them bloomed the first spring.

A couple more have come up, so now I'm up to 13/24. One of those which have come up is one which I remember severing accidentally while planting bulbs. I love watching everything come up in spring.

I got a handful of peonies from Wild's last fall, and they were nice healthy, chunky divisions. I've noticed one of them poking up already ('Mt. St. Helens,' which I bought for my son who likes volcanos). I also got 'Couronne d'Or,' 'Bo Peep,' 'Mischief,' and - hmm, memory lapse here, I want to say 'Fairbanks.' I've also taken chances on their daylilies - I wasn't as pleased as with their peonies, but they all appear to have made it through our mild winter (except for one I lost to crown rot last summer), so I'm hoping for some good blooms, and I ordered a few more from their customer appreciation sale.

Laurel

Hello Madspinner,

How are your peonies doing? Sine you are a couple of zones ahead of me, I very much would like to hear the progress of your peonies. As of last Thursday, all of mine are up. Some of them have lots of healthy growth! I can see little buds on some plants, but as this is the 1st year, I understand they may not bloom, or if they do, they might not be typical of the variety - but still, I hope. Happy, happy, happy.

Sunflower

Mine are all up and growing... and most have buds too. Some look kind of small (the buds) and from experience I know some of these may abort before blooming. But at least a couple have really big flower buds. Most of them are still in pots... I havn't gotten the area I want to plant them in ready yet. I have big plans. They might even have to stay in pots till next year. I want to work on fences this year, which will likely take up most of my garden funds.

I don't expect any of them to bloom till mid May, but I hope I get surprised. Some of the singles are supposed to be "early", but I've never had them so I don't know what to expect yet.

When they start blooming I will try to catch them with the camera. I'm quite excited about it... especially since most of my new roses are too small to really bloom this year, so these are going to be my "instant" gratification this year.

Even though it is too early for blooms, I have had quite a bit of instant gratification already just watching these guys emerge. They look so healthy. Here is 'Early Scout':

I live about 5 miles from sarcoxie so I have been around G.H wilds peonies for years (they used to have feilds of iris too and it was something to see) they have a really good reputation (I know it's changed into the sons hands recently though) Gilbert was a old man when my mom was a teenager! I've never had any problems with them when i've had problems w/peonies through other mail orders. It's well worth it to spend the extra $$ on them insted of ordering the 3.00 ones from other companies, and they are still decent priced and you get to pick your variety if you want too.

if you are wanting to order from G.H. Wild DO NOT ORDER OFF THE NET!!!! The prices are higher than in the catalogue. their phone # is 1-888-449-4537

Sunflower,
Did your Early Scout bloom yet? I purchased 1 last year from GH Wild and its got so many buds. I can't wait for them to pop open! I really like the foliage and wish I bought more than 1! Darn! I did end up ordering 'Red Charm' and 'Hit Parade' for Fall delivery. I ordered from this nursery last year and was very impressed with the quality of the peonies. I've since ordered some daylilies and irises. I hope that they are just as nice as the peonies!

Actually I haven't seen buds on the Early Scout, just lots of nice healthy looking foliage. I do have buds on many of the other peonies I bought from G.H. Wild last fall. I can't wait for them to bloom! I especially can't wait to see how they look in about 3 years.

btw, if you go to the website, there are links to the sales catalogs in the top part of the menu on the left hand side of the main page. I have been thoroughly bitten by the peony bug and am plotting what I will purchase for this fall. I will be getting some peonies from Klehms which I do not see at the Wild web site, but I definitely will not be getting peonies again from a reseller.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Surplus Sale

Madspinner, did your peonies bloom true to name? :)

Diann
IA Z5a

Most of my peonies havn't bloomed yet. Still looking at lots of fat buds.

This is a pic of my first peony to bloom this year, Flame. It is not one of the ones from Wilds, but came from a boxed store last year.

Of the ones from Wilds, Couronne d'Or is just starting to bloom. I'll try to get a picture when it opens fully, if the rain doesn't ruin her first! So far it looks true to name. It is white (with some blushed pink) and red/pink edges.