Mxk3, I fully understand your point. I'd spend MORE at the locally-owned nurseries in my area if they got plants in earlier. I live in a "banana belt" in my area--my zip code runs from hardiness Zone 7 (my neighborhood) to hardiness zone 5 less than 5 miles away. That's true of the entire Reno-Sparks area. The result is that I want cold-hardy annuals like pansies and snapdragons far earlier than most gardeners in this town because I *can* plant and enjoy them earlier in the year. Locally-owned nurseries, quite sensibly, don't carry them that early. They bring the plants in once most gardeners in the area can safely plant them out. That's a full month later than I can. So I turn to the big box stores, where plants are brought in only as loss leaders, early enough for my planting needs, but far too early for most. I don't rely on big-box nurseries, not by a long shot. They simply don't carry enough "cool plants" to satisfy my compulsive need for chlorophyll. Once the growing season is well under way, my buying shifts from the big-box stores to the local nurseries. I'm an equal-opportunity buyer. Yes, I have a favorite nursery, and I make a point to stop there first on plant-purchasing expeditions. Then, even if I found and bought what I set out to buy, I go on to the other nurseries, just as long as I'm out, and just in case there's something else I'd like to have. The big box stores get included in my rounds, but they don't constitute the bulk of my purchases at that point. I also buy a lot of my plants via mail order, because in spite of good variety at local nurseries (taken in aggregate), there are still many plants I can't obtain locally. An inventory of plants I'd consider "fairly complete" would run to the entire Forestfarm catalog, an old (pre-Burpee) Heronswood catalog, a Plant Delights catalog, and a Bluestone Perennials catalog, all in one location. I'm sure I'm forgetting several vendors in my wishlist, but I think you can see how I crave far more variety than the local nurseries (even including big box stores) can reasonably supply. The other shortcoming (and again, it's a perfectly sensible shortcoming) of the locally-owned nurseries is their heavy reliance on plants proven completely hardy in my area. I tend to be an experimental gardener, perfectly content to accept a fair amount of winter kill, and content to accept far more failure than the average garden center customer. Selling plants hardy only to Zone 7 would tend to result in a great many unhappy customers at the local garden centers. So again, I rely on the big box stores, with their clueless buyers and loss-leader philosophy, to supply me with quite a few "experimental" plants. Some of the experiments have been splendid successes, but most have ended up in the compost heap after the second killing frost. I don't expect local garden centers to cater to a lunatic like me. In the end, I'd love to shop exclusively at the locally-owned nurseries in my area, but that would limit my choices of plant material and delay some of my spring container plantings. It isn't fair to expect those nurseries to cater to my quirks and risk tolerance. The locally-owned nurseries can't afford to take the risks I can, and I don't expect them to do so. I shop at the local independent nurseries as much as I can, and I'll have to leave it at that.

Hey, cool. We will have to compare notes when they arrive. I've heard good things about their peonies. The only bad stuff I've heard about Gilbert H Wild was about their daylilies. Everything I've heard said about their peonies has been possitive. Are you excited? I know I sure am. The peonies I got at Home Depo were in a bag, bareroot. Yes, those two varieties were packaged as a set, but were not individually labeled, so I don't know which is which. It looked like they were getting low on peonies when I was there, but don't know, that could just be at the one store. I think it was $7 or so for the bag. Home Depo also had a box of 3 peonies for sale for $9.00. But they were not named or labeled in any way. You just got a mixed batch. I probably would have bought a box, except that I am going to have a lot of peonies now and I'd like to try to mostly stick to named ones so I don't repeat on accident. I also bought a pair in a box at Costco... and they WERE individually labeled and in seprate bags so that I knew which ones I had. I think that is where I got Crinkled White and Flame. It seems like a lot of stores have peonies now. I made my seed order from Territorial last weekend... and my topsoil for my veggie beds came today... so I'm in a dandy mood. Now if only my stupid wood shavings would come from the mill (can you believe I'm getting 37 cubic yards?) I could do my mulching too!

You don't want to plant too deep, did you mean 1.5" or 15"? The eyes should be pointed up and probably no more than an inch below ground when you're done. You're absolutely right about them getting established over winter, fall is supposed to be the best dividing and planting time for peonies, but you can plant in spring as well if necessary. Some of the large growers mail bareroots in spring and fall but most just in fall. Potted peonies can be planted just about any time. I'd avoid the hottest part of the summer, though. It's always good to check to see how deep the eyes are for potted peonies, you might have to remove some soil from the top of the pot when you plant them out. Put them in a sunny, well drained spot and you're good!

Heheh! Jeff, the stalker is back again! And this time I get to enjoy glorious purples! Intrigue is just like its name, and your Barbara Streisands look so much more beautiful than the rest of the Barbara Streisands I typically see at a nursery... Of course my favorite color red on a rose, is that rich stage curtain red of Your Opening Night that I sooo love! P.S. I am crossing my fingers that the bad buggies will keep away from my tree rose Gemini... one bud opened to an absolutely beautiful form and such a pretty cream white with flushed pinks to it! much to my shock and happiness it has SCENT! I was sooo thrilled I was so afraid it would be like its descriptor (scentless) but it's not! It's got a sweet lovely scent to it... I'm not sure if this is a fluke because the other buds are just "unpeeling" and those are not scented yet... I love your Heart O' Gold too! My Gemini bud has that degree of variation of color, but instead of yellow, it's cream in the center... Heart O' Gold is a true beauty...but then again, what flower of yours isn't?! LOL! Everything is just too gorgeous!