This is only my third year for them and I only have about 6 or 7. Only two of them have bloomed, for some reason they grew but never bloomed. For the first two years two of them didn't even grow all season, just put up a few leaves then died back. The same ones are doing OK this year, but still don't looke like they're going to bloom.

I've always been a rose person, but I liked the look of peonies and decided to try them. I love them too. I had one bloom this past week and it was beautiful. I wish I had recorded the name of it, but I didn't. I expect that in the future I will be trying more of them. Cheryl

I have about a hundred now, no tree peonies. I selected and planted about seventy of them, mostly for cutting, but my favorites are the ones I didn't pick and can only guess the names.

When we first moved into this house, there were three established peony beds. Local and the owner's family lore, a family diary, and other bits of information have put together a kind of patchwork history of the peonies. That there was so many tidbits to learn of these particular plants just seemed to speak of their importance to to several generations of the family and their friends. I take great pleasure in knowing that the six singles, three pink, three white, that are planted in the circular bed were gifts from grandchildren and that the lone red in the old garden in its own bed was the descendent of a plant brought from the garden of a Yankee friend.

Sorry. Just like the garden, I get a little sappy in the spring.

Ray

I wish I have a hundred or fifty. I only have about 20 or so (almost nothing compared to what you guys have). Most of them are tree peonies which get quite large and limits the space I have. Only two are herbaceous (which can be divided if they got too big). I got all of them by impulse many years ago and I was too young then (barely highschool) and ignorant that time to even bother keeping track of their names. I sort of regret that now.

My favorite one is a large gigantic pink tree peony that is the first to bloom yearly. It has moved with me a few times too (I made an agreement with the new owners that I get to keep the plant). I have been trying to find the identity of my plants and for this particular plant, I suspect that it is probably Hana Kisoi.

I actually had to go out and count! I have never taken inventory of my peonies, except by name. I had an old architectural drawing that I dragged out that was given to me by the previous owners. I am not sure why they gave it to me, as I had to rip out the vast majority of their DISASTROUS attempt at gardening when I bought this old place. The only thing I did allow to remain were the 6 peony beds in the south lawn. So, I "inherited" 9 varieties that were with the house. Most of them I can ID, but some are still a mystery to me even after a decade of of living here. In addition to the 9 varities that came with the house, I have planted 26 more. I have plans to add at least 10 plants to my eastern exposure this fall. I have recently purchased the yellow intersectional peony Bartzella. To give credit where credit is due, it was an anniversary gift from my husband. It will ship in fall and I will plant it then.
But to answer your question, about 34 varieties. Sorry so long!

I have about twenty-five; five of them are very old, and the rest are either one or two years old. I have a lovely old Festiva Maxima, and what I believe is Bowl of Beauty. I live in an old farm village and some of the neighbors have huge lovely beds, so I planted some new and added to mine. This way next year I can do some dividing and still have the new blooms to get me through the down time!

I inherited two with the house I bought and planted two this spring. The two unknowns are a white double blooming and a pink doubble blooming one. I planted Felix Crousse and Bowl of beauty Although I am not sure now tha it is what it said it was It hasn't bloomed but the picture looks like a single row of outer pink petalsa full white center petals with innere pink cente petals and in a thread above they were saying it wasn't bowl of beauty. So I guess I'll see next year.

Wow!

I thought i was out of hand with 21. I'll have to mention you all to my husband the next time i buy another.

ok, so 3 new 'transplants' from the neighbor's house don't hold a candle to this discussion, I guess. :-)

Oh wow, I'd have to count them again. I know I don't have 100, but I probably have close to 70 and now I have probably 7 or 8 tree peonies. I suppose I should go out and count them sometime. :)

Diann
IA Z5a

I only have 8 so far. . . bought them in boxes of 4 roots each for 5.98 (on sale from 9.96) at a Home Depot. One root broke but I planted the part with the eye. However, the piece with apparently no eye(s) had something else. . .little white crawly things. . .spider mites?.. no webs and I'm not sure if you can see those with the naked eye. I sprayed it with a fungicide, plopped some dirt on it and bagged it. Not holding my breath on it though. About to go look in a catalog to see if I want to order more. My brother bought a house that had some planted in front. I was hooked! I'm only just now getting a chance to purchase my own for our garden here!

I thought I was going hog wild with 10 varieties, 16 plants.

I have 10 peonies and 2 of them are the Japanese flower style. All are herbaceous.

Oh my, 50 peonies! I think I would faint from the beauty of seeing them all in bloom at once. Your garden must surely be heaven on earth!

I have 5, all new, and of course am simply beside myself in anticipation of the blooms. They are:

Mons. Jules Elie
Elsa Sass
Bowl of Cream
Scarlett O'Hara
Unknown pink (gift)

3 tree peonies, 2 dwarf herbaceous peonies, 5 regular herbaceous peonies, 3 seedling Paeonia californica, one more regular herbaceous peony ordered to arrive this fall and a whole lot of species/species hybrid seeds to start this year!

Trouble is, I fall in love with nearly every plant I encounter, so I can't plant EVERY peony I like.

How do you want to count? (Tee hee hee!) I have the ones that came with the house, plus the ones my neighbor next door dug up and gaveto me. Some I've divided from larger plants and a whole bunch I rescued (over the construction fence, in the dark of night) from a teardown/bulldozer house down the street from us. Then there are the ones I'm trying to save from another source who just pulled them out of the ground today (May 31!!!!) because they were "too tall" for their placement in the garden bed, and were shading the "hens and chicks". Can you believe this? I mean, I like my little hens and chicks, too, but oneMUST learn to prioritize!

So, we've got several dozen plants going right now, with more to come, I'm sure, once the nurseries around here begin their "end of season" clearance sales later in the summer! Can't wait!

AEPT in Illinois

I have only herbacious peonies and they number about 90...but all except 2 varieties are "names-unknown" and several I'm still waiting to see their first blooms. Last June I was given about half my collection. I know I have several short, double reds. And there are some in various shades of pink. I have only 1 or 2 white ones (see my post "Pretty as a Picture"). The remaining half of my collection is made up of all one variety, a nice double pink that was quite a few years old when I got it & divided it into many pieces. Here's a pic of how they look right now.

{{gwi:684338}}

I'd love to trade some of these nice double pinks for other colors and forms if anyone is interested. Strong-stemmed tall growers particularly interest me.

Patrick

Gee, I only have two peonies: white "Shirley Temple" and pink "Sarah Bernhart".both bloomed the fist year, I bought them as mature plants..Steph

6 tree peonies that I planted within the last 3 years, plus one herbaceous peony clump (which actually seems to be composed of two peonies or one peony and a sprouted root graft). All but one of my tree peonies bloomed this year. My Paeonia rockii (a big species tree peony now considered one of the 4 ancestors of domestic tree peonies) has not yet bloomed. It's close to 4 feet tall, dense, healthy-looking, and has buds that still keep aborting. It's taking its sweet time settling in!

This fall, if I have a sunny vacancy in the garden, I'd like a few more herbaceous peonies. They're a lot less expensive than the trees.

I have probably 15-20 different varieties, all herbaceous. There is probably a total of 75-100 plants, and I'm sure I'll put in more.
Ray, I'm just as sappy as you ;) A lot of my peonies came from my Dad's house after he passed away. Was just telling DH a couple of days ago how pleased Dad would be that they were all rescued, divided and are doing so well. I've got a mass on the west side of our porch that has 25-30 of one variety planted together. They're a dark rose colored single that I don't know the name of. Several years ago, my brother and I went to the cemetary where my great-great grandfather is buried, and divided the MASSIVE bunch that was on his grave. I've not been able to find an ID for it, but it's gorgeous whatever it is.
It's just mind-boggling to see all of them blooming. My favorites for sentimental reasons, are of course, the one's from my Dad's. I'm pretty sure one of them is Bowl of Beauty. For fragrance, Sarah Bernhardt was always my favorite, but a fairly new one for me, "Raspberry Sundae" might just edge Sarah out.....it smells so good, you just want to take a bite out of it, lol!
By the way, the year my brother and I went to the cemetary, DH thought we were NUTS. For one, that we spent all day traveling to divide peonies, and that we got them from a cematary. The folks on that side of the family would be thrilled to know that someone took starts of it home, and the peony at the cemetary never missed a beat. DH is now hopelessly addicted to peonies, too-he's always looking for "abandoned" specimins. You'd be surprised how many of my nieces and nephews have bought houses, then called to see if I wanted the peonies before they dug them out and threw them away......um, YEAH!

I have been collecting peonies for the past 4 years. I started in the fall of 2000 and through fall of 2004 I have collected about 200 cultivars. Of these perhaps 50 are tree peonies. A picture of a portion of one of my peony beds is below. My peonies are planned to bloom at various times throughout the bloom season so not all of the plants are in blossom at one time. That way each peony bed has interest for a longer period of time.

{{gwi:1135712}}

PeonyMan.......beautiful! You've achieved what I'm working towards.

Flowerlvr....I identify completely. The pink peony I posted above came from a long-time family friend, who's now passed. I also have calla lilies and lacecap hydrangeas that came from her, as well as bleeding heart (very old) and other plants that had been my grandmother's and mother's. Having a "history" makes plants a little more special. I'm glad your DH caught the peony bug too!

Patrick

PeonyMan....truly inspiring.....how much land do you have, it must be wonderful to go for a walk in the morning with a cup of coffee and enjoy the view.

I forgot to mention my Paeonia veitchii, which is finally coming into its own after about 5 years.

This is a question for the people who have dozens and dozens of peonies....how do you stake? I bought the large peony rings and they are taller as well but find they do not do the job.

Patrick, what a great photo. Just beautiful!

PeonyMan, wow wow wow!

Wow you are all amazing - enjoyed reading through all your posts. I have NO peonies - yet - but I DO have the most glorious bouquet of Sarah Bernhardt peonies right now, which I bought at the local farmers market this weekend. They are scenting the entire downstairs, which is not a small space!

I had never smelled them before or really been able to adore the beauty of their flower forms so well before (I have certainly gone up to adore plenty of other peoples' peony bushes , but you know, you stand in one place too long and people begin to get suspicious!) With this bouquet, I was instantly and irreversibly in love. I had always anticipated getting a tree peony as my first peony but now I know that it'll have to be a Sarah Bernhardt !

Whitejade......and so the addiction begins, lol!

I've got a small handful, 4 different ones right now (Kelway's Glorious, Phillippe Rivoire, Chiffon Clouds, and 2 Sarah Bernhardt [??? it's NOT fragrant, and SB is supposed to be, but that's what they were sold as]). I just planted Duchesse de Nemours (a clearance bag from a HD - it still looked viable, with a couple growing buds on the root). I ordered another double handful for the fall: Port Royale, Mahogany, Early Glow, Polar King, Mischief, Amalia Olson, Couronne d'Or, and Bo Peep. Some of these were sales from Wild's, and I'm wondering about their size (the bargain daylilies I got from them were healthy, but small) - it could be a few years before all of them bloom. Now I've got to find homes for all of these lovelies! I'll be maxed out on peonies now. So many lovely flowers, so little yard!! And I have a love for historic irises and lilacs, too. I long for a larger yard someday. In the meantime, I get rid of more turf every year as the mixed borders and beds grow.

Laurelin

Well, the count has gone to a little over 100 now. My sister had me "rescue" 2 large peonies (medium pink and dark pink) from her yard before her neighbor-from-hell could spray them with Roundup (long story). They were just finishing up blooming.

One transplanted completely whole...just enough clay soil there to keep the roots bound together. I tied the tops together with twine and after planting it in my garden, I draped it with a double thickness of a lacy curtain panel as a shade cloth. It's looking exceptionally good for the untimely move it's made.

The 2nd one was more inclined to be made up of separate roots, so I planted about 1/2 of it in one chunk. Then I had about 9-10 pieces of varying sizes. I planted them wherever I could find a sunny spot available, including 2 in my veggie garden ... temporarily, I hope! 2 others ended up in nursery pots.

Let me tell you...there are peonies everywhere in my yard!

Patrick