Hi Elizabeth, I don't post much on this forum, but I have about 2 dozen peonies so will offer my 2 cents from my experience.

Fall is the best time to plant and transplant Peonies, but It is okay to plant your potted Peony now, and it will be fine, because Peonies are very rugged, long-lived plants. But if they're disturbed during the blooming season the bloom may suffer. Not to worry, chances are they will bloom well the next year once they settle in.

Peonies are drought-tolerant once they're established. They are strongly clumping, but the clumps slowly expand and the number of blooming stalks increases over time. They love to have some compost.

The double blooms can be very floppy, so I use large Peony rings with the grid across them. It's tedious, but I feed the stalks up through the grid and loosely stake them. If you're lucky you'll have great weather during Peony bloom. If not, you can always cut bouquets which are stunning in the house. Because the first shower and they will flop. :(

I dead head after bloom, and usually clip them down to healthy foliage where ever I think looks good.

If you want to buy peonies, the following are good vendors with a wonderful selection of peonies. .

1. www.peonies.net
2. www.solarisfarms.com
3. www.finagardenspeonies.com
4. http://peonyparadise.com/
5. www.adpeonies.com/âÂÂ
6. www.swensongardens.com
7. www.hollingsworthpeonies.com
8. www.hiddenspringsflowerfarm.com
9. www.gilberthwild.com
I have bought from 1,2,3,4, 9. They are all good. Some have better prices than others. Gilbert wild has good prices but sometimes they send mislabeled peonies. I have not purchased from 5,6,7,8. The cheapest local place to buy peonies for me is Costco during April.

For staking, one person I've met in the plant exchange forum suggested tomato cages cut in half, cheaper than peony cages. Haven't tried it myself but don't see why it wouldn't work.

thank you so much all of you!!! can't tell you how much i appreciate all of this advice.

haven't planted yet but traced out where we are going to make a bed for them. since this post i've collected a few more:
(1) sarah bernhardt
(2) angel cheeks
(1) pecher?
(2) duchesse de nemours

all came in 3 gallon pots and have maybe a dozen or so stems in each.

i am wondering how far apart they should me. i would love to plant them very close together so that the inner stems could support each other, but i've heard this is no good for 2 reasons....mildew...and they will want to spread into their mature size. do you have advice on this? i'd still love to collect some more but will find other spots for them.

also wondering in terms of full sun being in z6b, if 6 hours of morning/early afternoon sun is as sufficient as early - mid afternoon sun? just trying to widen my options for where to plant :)

This post was edited by elizabethsarah on Sat, May 18, 13 at 23:20

Your peonies sound like a good size for nursery plants. They should give you a decent show next year.

I have 4 peonies in my front garden that have been there 8 years. They are in a prominent location so they're the ones I fuss over and use the rings with the grids. I've got lots of the simple circular rings, but the ones with the grid were relatively expensive so I only got 4 of those. They are good quality and will last for decades.

There are about a dozen peonies in a bed along the side of the house by the apartment, and a few others here and there, and I don't even bother to put rings around most of those.

The peonies in the front garden are about 4 feet apart in a semi-circle, which gives me a little space to grow plants amongst them. Personally the closest I would plant Peonies is about 2 feet apart on center . The foliage and blooms would weave together a little at that distance, and this gives the root systems 1 foot on each side to expand plus a little digging room.

Here's a pic, note you can't see the rings at all once the Peonies fill in -

PS I think the white Peony in the middle there is Duchess de nemours.