Full sun is good, Jennifer---the more the better! Mix in lots and lots of compost and skip the sand. The more organic the soil is, the better the plant will grow. And you won't need it, probably for a couple years, but get a peony cage (just like a tomato cage, but short and bigger around) and you can just leave it in permanently around the plant. The reason for the peony cage is to support the flowers when it blooms, especially when the flowers get wet. Without the cage they pretty much just lay down on the ground---and don't get back up again! So wind's no problem for the plant, but the flowers are "top heavy!" There were 3 peony plants in the whisky barrels--of all places--when I moved into this house, and I dug them out and stuck them in pots---where they stayed for a couple years since I didn't have anywhere (sun) to put them in the ground, and I finally stuck all three in the ground together (pink and white together) in fall of '07. I put the cage around them the next spring, but there really haven't been enough flowers to need support until this spring--and even then there weren't that many flowers. It takes several years for a peony to develop into a big enough plant to be "impressive!"

Sun and compost and time!
Skybird

Congratulations! I planted my first peony about a month ago. It's already bloomed. I amended with a compost/peat moss/humus mixture, about a third of what I took out of the hole. My soil is very dense clay, so it needs it. A little sand might have been a good idea in retrospect. I planted it on the south side of the house. I read that you should bury the crown of the plant 1-2 inches below the soil line or they freeze here, so I did that. They are beautiful. I don't know why I've never had one before. Enjoy!

Thank you both!! I'm so giddy I could just squeal, well, in a couple of years...

No, I'll squeal right now!

I am planting them tomorrow and am ready for a lovely year of blooms, even if I only get one bloom from the peony.

Thanks :D

Peonies are wonderful! Lucky you.

Ditto on the deep hole and compost. I have some that we planted on the south side of the house which gets totally dried out in the winter, and I swear the roots are 3 foot deep - I never was able to get to the bottom of them when I separated them out. The important part is to make sure the eyes are at the right depth, which is somewhere between 1 and 2 inches - even then, the plants seem to sort that out for themselves as they grow......

Surprisingly, they do very well in nearly total shade - like a few hours of sun a day. The plants get enormous - the foliage 3 -4 foot high, the flowers a foot above that. They're very pretty, actually, in the shady border, the colors seem even more intense.

And after they get established and need separating, 5 - 6 years down the road - don't hesitate. It's a lot easier than it seems.

Good point about the depth, Barb. I should have thought about that, but I'm just home from a trip--and incoherently tired! Too deep and they won't bloom (like iris)! I don't think you need to worry about depth to keep them from freezing. The plants I had in pots over winter one year had snow melt in the pot that didn't drain out before it froze again, and they were a big lump of ice for a good month. I was calling them peony pops on another thread not too long ago. I thought they were gonners for sure, but when spring came and they thawed out, they were no worse for the wear! Peonies can take a LOT of cold. I should have thot of sticking this link in too! It's the one I found when I was planting mine---I was looking to get the depth right! It's from the U. of Minnesota where the zone is 4 or colder for most of the state. The "eyes" should be about 1 1/2" below the surface, and since I assume yours is already growing in a pot, that would be the place where the stems come out of the root! Planting them now, you should get at least a few flowers next spring.

I just refreshed this and saw David's comment that they don't need that much sun, and the U of M site says that 4 or 5 hours is enough. I never knew that! And I definitely agree with David's comment about the deep roots! When I dug them out of the whisky barrels, where they had been for 2 years, the roots went all the way to the bottom--which was half filled with rocks--and were actually starting to grow into the wood, and I finally just gave up and kind of ripped them out! They did fine!

Giddy and squealing is good!
Skybird

Here is a link that might be useful: Planting Peonies!

We have 4 or 5 plants that are against the garage under a a huge deciduous green ash tree - I'm thinkin' (always dangerous) that maybe, the peonies get *enough* sun early in the season, before the ash leafs out, during late March, April and May. Because they don't get any sun at all during the summer.

The ones out in the border do manage a few hours a day. And to be sure, the ones in full sun are spectacular, and grow the fastest.

Time for you to start posting some pictures, David!

Skybird

I'm hoping I don't have to snip off the flower bud as with transplanting a tomato...right?

It has only one bud, but I'm very patient.

Yeah, some pictures would be nice! Every time we drive about in Boulder during the spring/summer, we have to go around this block or that block to get another look at some garden. there are so many peonies down there!

Luckily, my neighbor has one so I'll ask her too.

If the bud blooms, I'll put a picture up. I have "Festiva Maxima", white with red flecks.

:) :)

Our house in Montana came with a big, beautiful peony. When we got "the girls" (the 4 month old lab mix sister puppies) they chomped the poor thing to the ground. I think it was fall when they did that, but it seems like they did it twice, so maybe they demolished it again in the spring. It came back just fine. Just in case you need to know this... :-b

I think the one I bought this spring was also "Festiva Maxima". It doesn't seem to be doing anything. The bleeding heart and lillies I planted at the same time are both up now but no signs of life from the peony...

The one in Montana was white with dark pink in the center. I dug some starts for another spot and they turned out to be dark pink, not white. That never really made sense to me, but they were pretty.

After we sold the house, the new owners ripped out all the peonies. Can you believe it??

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

Who would rip out peonies?? Oh, wow!

Thanks for the dog info. My dogs eat everything: the rose bed is behind a fence, the perennial bed is behind a fence and the new rose and peony will be put behind the fence, too.

I hope your lost peony comes back! Maybe it is just a little slow.