You will have to check the number of eyes and size of roots on each of the plants. One thing that costs more is that Adelmans grows their own plant. Probably Portland Nursery purchases from a wholesaler at a bulk price. Most of which are just field run plants which vary in size and eyes.

It definitely pays to shop around! I only buy online to get a particular variety I can't get anywhere else. One thing I like about Adelmans - I've never gotten the wrong cultivar! I can't say that for a lot of my other sources (Sam's Club, Walmart, Ebay, local garden center, etc.)

Hello Emmett,

We had most of our peonies destroyed or uprooted last year just after planting them. A car drove off the road and all over them, and we had so much to deal with then that details on the peonies, whatever was left of them that did grow, aren't totally firm in my mind, though I do recall my husband finding some blooms, one of which he brought into the house. But anyway, the memory of what the bulbs looked like when we received them is clear: they looked great! That was a bit of a surprise, as they were amazingly cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

I just placed another order yesterday at the same place for peonies and some other bulbs. The order this year is coming about six weeks farther into the season, so the quality might be less than what they sent last year. I don't know what we'll get this year, but at their prices, the peonies would still be a bargain even if not quite as nice as last year's (spectacularly large and healthy) bulbs.

The numbers of different peony varieties are certainly limited at this inexpensive place, but since I don't have as many of the varieties they do carry as I'd like to have, this doesn't matter to me at this point. The place is Terra Ceia Farms.

Best wishes,
Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Terra Ceia Farms

Most of us like to think that the price of anything is a product of the cost of producing it. Actually, from someone who sold retail most of my life, the sale price is dependent primarily on the demand for the product. The demand is most often created by the marketing skills of the seller. Al