Thanks Sue, I just ordered 10 peonies. Don't know where I'll put them, but I'll figure something out.

What peonies do you have? Mine are mostly unnamed fragrant doubles that I got from friends. My favorite herbaceous peony is festiva maxima.

I have 3 reds that I believe all had different names when I bought them but I did not keep the names with them (dumb pre GW thing). They look to all be the same double non fragrant peony to me, the untrained eye. I think they all came from the big box stores, so they 'may' all be the same.

Also have Walmarts Lavender Lady...it is quite unique, though not a favorite...will show pic later.

I also have 2 others that I believe may be Sarah Bernhardt, and maybe Bowl of Beauty. The B of B pictures on the net all look different.

I plan to later post them here to try and put a name to them.

I also inherited 3 others, that I have not seen bloom yet, so I am looking forward to seeing what they will be like.

I also have one that bloomed a single raspberry colored bloom. It is planted in the shade and needs moved so it can thrive.

I'm optimistically looking forward to at least a few blooms on the new ones I've ordered. The description on several of them said they were nice 2-3 eye divisions, so we shall see.

I don't have Festiva Maxima, but have been aiming to help a neighbor lift hers, and get a start then.

Sue...dreaming of new peonies.

Thanks Sue ~ I only wish I caught this sooner (mea culpa!), as their peonies ship once weekly (from their grower in Coloma, MI 49038) on Mondays. Still, I couldn't pass up this sale with free shipping plus an additional 10% discount (to sign up for their newsletter) - not to mention their guarantee; so, today I ordered 20 peonies (15 Double Pink + 5 Festiva Maxima) for under $40 and will receive them in 10 days. Thanks so much for posting this sale!!

Wow! Thanks for posting this! I got 10 peonies for $22.41 (with Free Shipping and 10% off). I got 5 Primevera (yellow) and 5 Sea Shell (single pink). Sea Shell is an American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner from 1990.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sea Shell Peony

Sounds as if you two might be almost as excited as I am at the thought of some new varieties.

I wonder if mine shipped yesterday (Mon). Could be any day now.

I'm not expecting much (at at little as 2.49 per root), but will report on them once they are received.

Sue

Sue ~ I am pretty excited at the prospect of having these decadent flowers blooming in our garden! I'm new to both gardening and peonies, and Leah at BloomingBulbs infomed me that they may not bloom their first year. I read online on a few different sites that they sleep their first year, creep their second, and leap their third.

I've learned a lot by reading the forums here and online in general, and so far everything I've planted in my first-ever garden has thrived (just started this past spring) ~ I hope I can say the same about my peonies!

Some of the descriptions said they were 2 to 3 eye divisions.

If all 5 roots (of one variety) have at least 2 eyes, I'd think/optimistically hope that there would be a bloom in 2007, if planted with great care.

Sue...an optimist.

I changed my order ~ instead of the Double Pink I requested Sebastian Maas, and Leah was extremely prompt in confirming my change order.

My husband is out of town and got so excited when he found out about my order ~ that he too got online and ordered 15 of the Sorbet!!

I checked the BloomingBulb web site and see that all their peonies are now sold out!

Sue ~ many thanks again for posting this sale ~ now we have to figure out where we're going to plant 25 peonies. This is the type of gardening challenge I don't mind knowing how gorgeous they will eventually bloom. :-)

I really look forward to hearing about your order once it arrives.

Thanks to Sue I ordered 15 peonies of 3 different varietes Sebstian Maas, Sorbet amd Primavera. Mine came in Friday 11/09 and all look good with 3 or more eyes. Now I have been planting..planting and planting and now waiting to see my gorgeous results!! Thank you Sue!!!
P.S. Sue has been my adopted "Gardening Angel" and has helped me get off to a great start.

Oh, you're both welcome....glad a few folks got to take advantage of the sale which I thought was pretty good.

I've found named peonies are pretty expensive buying on line or from catalogs, and just cannot find any at nurseries at any price.

My plan is to plant 3 roots per hole, since I have traded off 2 roots of each variety. It will save a lot of extra digging this late in the season, and will be bigger and more 'established blooming sized' plants that much sooner.

So glad to hear they all had numerous eyes...now if mine would just come today.

txcottage(Donna), I ordered b4 you, so it just isn't fair that you received yours b4 I got mine...grrrrr...maybe today.

So glad to hear they all had numerous eyes...now if mine would just come today. Thanks for the info.

Sue

Sue, have your peonies come yet? I'm still waiting. Has anyone other than txcottagegarden got theirs yet? Let us know...

No, and each day I expect them to arrive. The only thing I can figure is that they evidently do not fill orders in the order they are received, and/or they fill maybe tons of smaller orders first, and fill all the bigger orders last...that way they can give fast shipping on 'more' orders.

I just checked my order, and it was placed on the 2nd, and billed to my cr cd on the 2nd(according to them), and they will ship between the 5th and the 18th.

On my first order, there were 8 peonies, and one iris. Then about an hour or 2 later, I placed a second order for one more peony. Maybe having 2 orders, or ordering that iris, has got it held up.
I'm sure getting antsy, as I have to box one root of each variety for 2 different friends, and mail them out. They are getting anxious as well, I'm sure.

tehegemon posted above..."their peonies ship once weekly (from their grower in Coloma, MI 49038) on Mondays

I did not read that anywhere on their site...maybe just missed it. Maybe they mailed 11-13, and we will have them tomorrow or Fri.

Sue

Sue, I was expecting my peonies to arrive today based upon them shipping on Monday, 11-13-06. When I ordered them, I spoke with Leah ~ who explained to me that their grower (in Coloma, Michigan) digs them up and ships once weekly only on Mondays. I'm hoping my order arrives tomorrow...I ordered 20 and my spouse ordered 15 more (separate order)...we both requested our orders to ship on 11-13-06, and this is the shipping date shown in our order confirmations. So, we'll see ~ I'll keep you all posted.

BTW, their peonies are still on sale with free shipping, although they won't ship until spring 2007.

Sue, I just called BloomingBulbs, spoke with Emily, discovered my order did not ship as scheduled, and am waiting to hear back about the status of my order.

For those who ordered peonies and haven't received them yet, I suggest calling BloomingBulbs to find out the status of your orders.

:-(

Latest update: Leah from BloomingBulbs called to inform me that their grower experienced difficulty digging up the peonies (the ground was too, too wet) and didn't inform them; so, they didn't ship this past Monday. They will, however, ship next Monday ~ 11-20-06 ~ AND, BloomingBulbs will ship them 2nd Day Air (at their cost) to arrive by Wednesday, 11-22-06.

Tehegemon,

I'm sorry, I meant to get back to you all yesterday. I called yesterday, and first was told they had shipped...then that there appeared to be something wrong, as she didn't show a confirmation number. She checked and called me back shortly, telling me what she told you above, and kindly apologized.

I told her that when I ordered it had said they would ship between 11-5 and 11-18, and since they didn't, would they consider compensating me in any way for them being later that originally promised.

She said yes, and they are to send a couple of things they had in overstock...not exactly sure what or what amount.

She said the overstock would be shipping from another address, and then yesterday afternoon I rec notification of a UPS del #.

So...something is on its way...and I am a very happy camper once again....should have 'something' to plant maybe Sat.

I guess my calling them yesterday, was what prompted the courtesy call from Leah.

I might add, the link above says the peonies are on sale, and like you said, any orders now will ship spring 2007, but the prices are not near what we who ordered just recently got them for.

I got Seashell at 2.49 per root, but had to order 5 for a total of 12.49, and now one root is 8.50, which is still good I think for a beautiful named peony with free shipping.

Sue...getting excited all over again!

Thanks Sue for your update! You're right about the price increase ~ I ordered 15x Sebastian Maas @ $1.89/ea plus 5x Festiva Maxima @ $3.07/ea. Additionally, my spouse ordered 15x Sorbet @ $1.89/ea. On top of this we also received 10% off ~ not to mention their free shipping ~ who can beat that? :-)

I am slightly bummed that our peonies didn't arrive as scheduled since the past few days would have been ideal planting weather...next week will be pretty cold and our ground will be more difficult to work. This said, I'm going to request a discount on my next order as I've got my eye on a few things for spring planting!

Like you, I too am pretty excited about adding these luscious peonies to our landscape!!

Well, I just checked the order confirmation they sent me, and my Sebastian Mass and Sorbet were both 2.49.

I wonder why the price difference on the Sebastian.

Nothing came today...I really thought something would be here, since they sent the UPS conf 11-16.

Today was nice here as well. Just great planting weather.

sigh...

Sue, I'm sorry your package hasn't arrived yet...

The reason for the price difference is their tiered pricing structure ~ greater volume of a single cultivar = lower pricing/ea: 1, 5, 15, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000. Too bad they don't offer their lower pricing on combined cultivars to allow for mixing.

With my 10% discount, I paid less for one (based upon purchasing 15) than what they now charge for one based upon purchasing 1000.

Nonetheless, I say we got these for a steal!!

It's overcast and cold here today...brrrr! I'm not looking forward to planting these next week...this past week was sunny in the 60s...next week will be overcast in the 40s...sigh here as well...

Tehegemom and Sue,

Gee you guys must have been going crazy waiting with your shovel in hand! I was just grateful to receive mine before all the 'problems digging' began. When Sue told me about the sale I jumped over there and ordered before I knew what I had done. Still don't know why they shipped mine before Sue's since she ordered before me? Mine looked great..I'm sure yours will too. Post when you receive your pkg.

Donna

Yes, going a bit crazy. Deer season opened last Sat (and I'm a hunter as well as a gardener), the holiday is upon us, and we got enough snow last night that it 'covered' the ground and hasn't melted off yet.

Least ways the sun is shining and maybe will get the peonies (or bulbs) today.

Donna, I'm glad you got lucky and got yours quickly. I think the fact that I ordered 9 different varieties (and one iris) is probably the reason why mine is taking longer.

I guess I could go ahead and maybe dig the holes today, and make up all the labels for mine and for those I'm sending on to those that split the order with me.

tehe, I understand the tier pricing now...had a 'duh' moment b4.

Sue

I just got notification of delivery confirmation, and they are coming UPS Ground. On a lighter note, the box is 8 LB 2 OZ, so they 'should' be pretty nice, I'd think.

Sue

Donna ~ so glad to hear you received your great looking peonies in timely fashion!

Sue ~ thrilled to learn yours are on their way! If you don't mind me asking, how many did you order (to help me envision their weight)?

My order ETA WAS Wednesday if my order shipped via 2nd Air as promised...which it is NOT, as I just received a UPS Ground shipping confirmation. If not for Thanksgiving this week, my order would arrive Thursday, and hopefully will arrive on Friday.

So, naturally, I called and spoke with Leah...apparently, the grower was not willing to pull my package out of their shipping pile to ship 2nd Day Air, as he already marked it for ground shipping.

My first buying experience with BloomingBulb is proving to be less than favorable, although I will give them an opportunity to compensate me for this mishap. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it all turns out. :-(

Latest update: Leah of BloomingBulbs called me back and is refunding us $64.84 for both of our orders because of this shipping debacle coupled with our weather. I'm very pleased that we will still receive our peonies, although our nights will be below freezing...I hope we can get them planted and truly appreciate their effort to make this right. :-)

She said their grower is usually very good about keeping them abreast about orders that didn't ship as scheduled, as well as informing them about how orders were shipped (ground vs. air); although, he didn't in our case and she seemed surprised, disappointed, and apologetic on their grower's behalf.

My package of 20 peonies weighs 3.7 lbs, and my spouse's package of 15 weighs 3.8 lbs ~ I wonder why the difference when I submitted a larger order ~ any ideas?

I'll keep you posted about how our peonies look once they arrive.

Good luck Sue with getting yours into the ground! Let us know how they look once they arrive.

Tehe,

Good to hear you are staying on top of it and that Leah is doing her best to take good care of you. Sounds like their growers dropped the ball, more than once. Hopefully you will some way be able to get them planted yet once they finally arrive.

Where are you located in zone 6a?

I did not get the holes dug, and now I wish I would have, as it got down to 24 last night. The ground here is clay, and it was just too wet to dig yesterday.

I hope once they arrive, that there is at least a small window of time to plant that the ground is not frozen, or solid mud. It's really getting down to the wire.

I emailed amulet, to point her to this thread in case she has not rec hers yet.

rian doesn't have her email setting set to receive mail, so could not contact her.

I see they are both in zone 7, so they will maybe have more planting time left anyway, than we do.

My total order was for 45 peonies, and 5 iris. I'm sure there is probably a big difference in the size and weight of the roots. I found that out myself when I dug that one monster out of the ground recently.

Sue

Hey Sue ~ do any of your friends/neighbors have a roto-tiller you can borrow so you can get a jump on planting?

Digging holes too far in advance would cause us some substantial drainage and/or grading problems with some of the rain we've experienced recently; so, we opted against digging them until we knew our peonies were officially on their way. The tradeoff for us is that the ground is truly a pain-in-the-back to work, much more so than last week when we enjoyed sunny 60s weather.

We're located in RI (tiniest state in the nation) and oddly enough, the weather can vary significantly between different areas.

I surely hope you get your peonies into the ground ~ please keep us posted!

Here is a link that might be useful: BloomingBulb guarantee

Just a very quick note here.

The peonies arrived yesterday, and I did a very qick check of a few of them. Looking good.

They are stored in a cool space until Fri when I can get to them. We are to have weather in the 50s and 60 into the middle of next week or so.

Looks like it will all work out after all.

Sue

Thanks for the update Sue ~ glad to hear they're looking good!

Also happy to hear you'll be enjoying some decent planting weather ~ what a relief, eh?

My peonies are scheduled to arrive Monday...no UPS Ground deliveries tomorrow because of the holiday weekend. :-(

The good news is that it's raining today and will continue tomorrow. This ought to soften our soil up for more digging.

More later & happy Thanksgiving!!

My peonies came but I only got nine. The last primavera was a small, blind piece of root. The sorbets looked good the primaveras not so much. The proof is in the blooming though.

Mine arrived yesterday. Out of 35, 2 have 3 eyes and 2 or 3 have no eyes. About 55% of the remaining have 2 eyes and the rest have only 1 eye. Some of the roots are large and extensive, while others are quite small with none of the finer roots attached. No mold on any of the roots.

rian is right ~ the proof is in the blooming!

Here is a link that might be useful: BloomingBulb guarantee

rian and tehegemom,

Glad to hear you finally got your peonies in. Hoping you will have beautiful blooms to make it all worth it.

Sue did you get to diggin' and get yours safe and snug in the ground?

I hope this is just an isolated incident with BB because I was delivered to in a timely manner with healthy eyes on all my peonies.

Hoping I have breathtaking flowers to brag on later.

Donna ~ I got 15 planted (i.e., 5 Festiva Maxima, 3 Sebastian Mass, & 7 Sorbet) out of the 35 we purchased. If we experience sufficiently warm weather anytime this winter and I can get a shovel into the ground, I'll plant more. :-) Until then, I've stored the roots within a nice moist loam/organic compost mix in our cool basement and will be sure to keep them moist until we can get them into the ground. Like you, I too look forward to bragging about decadent peony blooms!

Sue did manage to get all of hers planted ~ YAY!!!

Yes, I got mine all planted (thank goodness) and the others sent on right away that were shared with 2 other cyber gardening friends.

I am now concerned for the 25 different varieties of bulbs (250 total) I ordered Fri night from B&B's sale during a weak moment. I just watched the weather and it does not look good with the night time temps well below freezing, and not much above freezing during the day. hmmm, maybe I can find some thawed ground around the edges of the mulch pile, just to get them in so they won't be lost, and will bloom in 2007. I seldom ever plant anything in the right place the first time.

I move my plants around also, Sue. It drives my husband crazy. But having a plan and following it absolutely would take all the fun out of gardening, unless you did it professionally, of course. Then you could try all your new ideas out in different gardens and get paid for it too!

I'm glad you ordered Festiva Maxima, tehegemon. Have I mentioned that it's my favorite (probably only 10 or 12 times!) Beautiful, fragant, and when you move it, you just get more!

Ladies,

I got 5 sebastian maas, 5 sorbet, and 5 primavera. I too missed out on the Festiva Maxima!!
I guess I have "plants on wheels" as well. Ya never know where they will end up.
SUE you have got to control those urges....I'm headed to BB now to see what I can get into!!LOL
Donna

rian, thanks for sharing your insights about Festiva Maxima, as I had a tough time selecting based upon images alone. I love its full bloom with an occasional red fleck ~ it immediately struck me as nothing short of magnificent and I simply had to have it!!! :-)

Donna ~ very nice peony selection! When I originally ordered, I kept an eye on their peony availability and it seemed to change day by day, if not hour by hour. I first ordered an unnamed "double pink" (in addition to Festiva Maxima) as both Sebastian Maas and Sorbet weren't available. Then, Sebastian Maas became available so I submitted a change order for this rather than their unnamed double pink. Within a day or two, Sorbet became available ~ so, my husband ordered 15 of them.

I don't know why their availability fluctuated so...I can only imagine it was on their grower's end, as plants were dug out and shipped.

Well, yesterday was a fine day for planting and I managed to get a couple of Sorbets into the ground, although I intended to plant Sebasian Maas. I was wearing my general vision glasses for planting (as opposed to my reading glasses, for obvious reasons) and inadvertently grabbed the wrong bag of roots. The Sorbets will actually look much nicer than my original plan of Sebastian Maas; so, I'm pretty happy.

I checked our 5-day weather forecast and it looks like we may have a few relatively warm sunny days for planting ~ naturally, only if our ground is workable. Our nights are now well below freezing and it's currently 20 degrees Farenheit with sunny skies and very light clouds. So, even if the temps warm up, I'm not sure how a shovel will do in our ground. If I can plant three more, I'll be happy. Ideally, if I can plant nine or ten more, I'll be ecstatic. I'll keep you posted!

tehe,

Where are you located in zone 6a? We are to have above freezing night time temps and daytime in the 50's until next Sat...with a few scattered showers thrown in. Perfect for getting the last few things in...may be the last chance.

How is or did others plant their peonies? One per hole? 2? 3 like me?...just curious.

If it is really down to the wire, why not plant more than one per hole, just to get them planted so they can live and grow.

Very early last spring, I dug and divided a peony, and it still bloomed, but it was a fairly well established plant.

Sue

Hi Sue ~ I'm in Providence, RI. It will drop below freezing tonight, although the rest of our week looks good for planting ~ as it will be above freezing with highs ranging from the mid-40s to low-50s Farenheit.

I've been planting one per hole, although I have included blind roots in the same hole as the sighted ones with eyes. ;-) Out of 35, I've planted 18, and ideally would like to plant 7 more in our front yard. I'll give one to a neighbor and will plant the rest on the berm between the sidewalk in front of our house and the street. Some of our neighbors think I'm crazy to plant there, because of the general attitude of disrespect in our urban milieu...people throw trash on the ground or in people's yards...people toss beer bottles out of the windows as they drive down the street...some kids stomp on plants or tear them out of the ground...people throw cigarette butts everywhere...oh yeah - some of the worst offenders - those who walk their dogs off leash and allow them to eliminate wherever they please. Our yard is fenced and I figure I can put up chicken wire around the berm to help keep out some undesireable elements.

I've been sick since Thanksgiving and haven't fully recovered because I play outside in the dirt whenever I start to feel better (weather permitting, of course). Then, naturally, I start to decline because I don't allow myself sufficient periods of rest for a quicker mend. For now, I figure I'll get as many into the ground as I can...once our freezing cold weather decides to return for the duration of winter ~ I will stay inside and take it easy. :-)

I noted that the roots I had packed in a real moist loam/compost mix look really great!!! Their eyes are definitely larger and their roots have grown. I stored them in their original bags in our basement, which is dark with our thermostat set at 55 degrees Farenheit (to prevent our pipes from freezing).

I think what I'll do is plant whatever I can get into the ground this week, and store our remaining roots in moist loam/compost mix in our basement...I'll move them from their plastic bags to pots and mark them...if I plant them outside, their markers will definitely not last and I know I won't remember what I planted where.

Hi all!

I recieved my order quite some time ago. Most of my roots were small with 1-3 eyes on them. I gave away most all of mine, except two, as prizes at a baby shower. I hope all of the recipients have better luck with theirs than I've had with mine.

I kept one of each type that I ordered, Primavera and Sea Shell. Well, about a week after I planted them, I went back outside to put mulch around them only to discover that both of them had been dug up by some neighborhood animal (bear, dog, who knows?).

Well, the sign and root for Sea Shell were in two totally different spots several feet away and most of the dirt was dug out. I was able to get it back in the ground and mulched after hunting for it.

The Primavera sign was not disturbed, but the root, however was nowhere to be found. None of the dirt on this one was missing. It looked like something just came by and picked it up. (I plant my peonies near the surface so that the eyes are showing.) So I guess I lost that one.

Well, I already had a Primevere in my garden. I just wanted to compare this one to the one I had. Oh well. I don't already have Sea Shell, so I hope that one makes it.

As for the animal, your guess is as good as mine as to what it was. A few weeks before that, I noticed that my huband had dug up the yellow jacket nest (which I was happy about). When I mentioned it to him, he said he didn't dig it up. He thought I had done it!

amulet, wow, that's too bad ~ I'm sorry to hear your Primavera root has gone missing. I've caught our dogs checking out where I've planted...sniffing is OK, although I've got them red-pawed doing a paw scrape over the planting spot followed by a quick sniff and deeper paw scrape. >:-\

I hope the baby shower recipients enjoy success with their peony roots ~ what a wicked cool ideal giving these as prizes! Let us know how they fare come spring.

Amulet,

Do you suppose the missing one could have been 'stolen' by someone? To keep the dogs, bears, who knows (?), from digging the one up, you could get a square piece of hardware cloth from the hardware store. It is inexpensive, and is sold by the foot. If you consider that as an option, I would consider getting it with bigger squares, since the peony might start to sprout next spring b4 you get it removed, and to avoid damage if that happens.

I keep different sizes of the cloth, and find it is handy for a lot of things....sifting compost for one.

When I plant, I use an above ground metal marker, but also try and remember to put a mini blind tag almost buried with it as well, and write the name on both sides. If my year old pup gets bored, I fear she may pull all of the metal tags to entertain herself.

Hope your Seashell makes it, as it sure is a beauty....but aren't almost 'all' of them?

Sue

I'm incredibly happy to report that I planted 7 Sebastian Maas this afternoon ~ WooHoo!!! :-) So, I've planted a grand total of 25 (YAY!!!!!).

In the process, I accidentally knocked an eye off a root...what will happen? Will the eye simply grow back? I hope I didn't kill it in my zeal to get them into the ground.

any luck with peonies?