I've never tried any peony seeds before this fall and I put all of mine outside. You have enough seeds to try a variety of methods, though, if you want. I've seen pictures from other forum members who've had success with putting them in a bag with dampened perlite and putting them on top of a water heater for several weeks then refrigerating them. One note, you can't store apples in the fridge with peony seeds, supposedly the gasses will negatively impact germination.
The method I wanted to suggest is winter sowing. There is a forum on winter sowing in GW if you're not familiar but it's a good step away from direct sowing, allows more intervention and control by the planter and keeps the seeds away from the birds and squirrels!
The American Peony Society has articles about sowing peony seeds, both indoors and out, might want to use that as a resource.
Hopefully someone with more experience than me will reply to you and give more solid advice, too!

Seed of herbaceous peonies first needs a warm period (temperature of about 15-20C/59-68F) of 3 to 5 months in which they form a root. Then they need a cold period (around 5 C/41F) of about 3 months for the seedling to appear above ground. When the seeds are exposed to higher temperatures after the cold period many will start germinating.

In my experience herbaceous peonies germinate best if it is done the natural way i.e. sowing the seeds in autumn outside but I don't know how cold it gets where you live.

I have done experiments with 'artificial' treatment of the seeds (warm period putting the seeds in a kitchen cupboard and for the cold period putting them in the fridge) but this does not seem to work for herbaceous peonies. The artificial treatment does however work for tree peonies.

I never soak peony seed. Your sowing medium should be well draining otherwise the seeds may rot. I always add sharp sand to my sowing compost.

Peony seed must be relative fresh. 'Old' seed goes into a state of deep dormacy and it is difficult to get those seeds germinated.

Sowing peony seed is not something for the impatient gardener. If you sow your mascula seeds now (fall 2014) they will germinate in the spring of 2016. You may get the odd seed that germinates next spring but most will germinate in the spring of 2016. After germination it will take a number of years to see the first flowers.

I have attached a picture of my mascula seedlings which germinated in late february 2014.

This post was edited by GardenPrince on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 13:41

Another newbie here. I'm germinating paeonia mascula seed for the first time, as well. I have ten seeds but only "started" starting three, I've been looking up advice before starting the rest. My biggest obstacle is patience (that and over-watering, but that's not an issue, yet.) From what I've read these seeds are very slow, possibly taking 2 years just for shoots to break ground. *sigh!*

My three are in the fridge now, I'll move them outside in a pot in a few weeks. We had an unusually long, cold winter last year, I want to be able to move them back in to a warmer fridge if need be.

Cumulus Nimbus, I see you live in Israel! :D Which part? Either way I'm sure you'll be able to manage just fine with a refrigerator. Do you have instructions that came with your seeds? These came with mine:

Paeonia mascula- coral peony
Place seed in moist vermiculite in plastic bag. Place in warm area of the house out of the sun. When the roots appear move to refrigerator (40 F) for 10-12 weeks. Transplant when shoots arise, to warmth and sun.

I already haven't followed these exactly with the seeds I've started, I put them in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag, and the roots didn't appear before I put them in the fridge (I thought they had but it turned out to be the design on the paper towel! D'oh.) From what I've read I think they still have a chance. I'll try two more sets with my remaining seeds, one as the directions say (waiting to see actual shoots) and another going straight out in a pot in the ground.

Good luck, Cumulus & Liz! Hopefully in a year or two we'll have happy news to report. :)

Garden Prince, just seeing your post. Very helpful, thank you for sharing! I hope I get an "odd seed" or two. I am the impatient gardener, but working on practicing patience. :)

Yes, expect about 5 to 7 years before you see blossoms, with good culture and luck.

I live in Jerusalem, 800m/2700ft above sea level which is around 32ðN. As far as I know winter hardiness should be similar to US zone 9b, the Avg Min temp on January is 4ðc/40ðf, with a few days a year of snow/light frost but temperature rarely drops below -2ðc/28ðf

Those seed are second generation and were taken from plans grown from seeds not far from the natural location (photo attached) their parents are growing.

That happens at the upper Galilee mountain in northern Israel , about 140 km from Jerusalem and 200 m higher (1000-1200 m AMSL), with about 1000mm of rain on an average year and minimum similar to US zone 9a, which is the southernmost location wild peonies grow on earth.

The same peonies also grown in a botanical garden in jerusalem and flower every year so I guess it is cold enough for them here. i am more concerned about summer - average Max temp around 30ðc\85ðf and 19ðc\65ðf Min during July and August but still, those peonies in that garden seem to do just fine.

2 months ago I got a few seeds of Paeonia suffruticosa (tree peony) and Paeonia lactiflora that were double dormant. I scarified the seeds following the instructions from this website and ruined most of them but had some scarified properly.

http://crickethillgarden.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/starting-peonies-from-seed/

Now the seeds are in a jar with coir and a bit garden potting soil which is very airy and is able to contain a lot of moisture. I check the seeds every week and hope to see some roots soon, then i'll move them to the fridge.

From my experience with seed germination - paper towel is not a perfect medium for seeds, they usually get mold if the paper is not replaced regularly.
I will update as soon as something happens with any of the seeds.

This post was edited by Cumulus-nimbus on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 2:34