If you're growing herbeceous peonies, it is probably a lot easier to buy the roots, or get them from neighbors because they propagate very easily and are not expensive like tree peonies. Herbeceous peonies do work the same way as tree peonies so even if they are kind of dried up, if you plant them in a garden bed now, some of them might sprout next spring, but bet on more of them coming up in the spring of 2013. You can rush the process by germinating them in a zip lock bag with vermiculate, once they root well, stick them in a fridge to develop buds, and then carefully taking them out and planting them in the spring to get seedlings to sprout. I like planting them straight out into the garden beds because that way, I don't risk losing some due to handling since they do have pretty fragile roots.

My Butia palm from Chilly Palm Tree had developed scale a few months later too. The eggs must have been there dormant. We removed it by hand twice because it re-occured. But after that it was OK. I was very concerned that if the scale would have spread in my greenhouse to other plants/palms I would have to do major spraying, which would be unhealthy since I grow lots edibles. Since cold weather palm businesses are hard to come by, I would warn people too, but I would not want to hurt his business too much. I called him about the scale when it formed on my Jelly palm and he did recommend some soaps to help get rid o the scale. If the palm was any larger, removing scale could have been a real ordeal.

AlexUnder, my soil has decently deep, clay-loam topsoil, but a tight confining layer about 15" down and a good proportion of clay with the loam causes it to be poorly drained. In the spring, we get a lot of rain here--about an inch a week--and it's not warm enough for evaporation to help dry things out. During that time, it takes the soil about two days so that you won't track mud in the house after walking on a grassed area. It will be muddy to walk on, but not destroy grass. Walking on grass is fine, but a cultivated/not mulched area such as the vegetable garden will be too wet to walk on for a week after a rain (in spring only). The whole property is on a slope, so water doesn't sit. It simply gets rained on every time it starts to dry out and stays wet. In the summer, once we have the heat to evaporate the water, things get quite dry. I would not want to amend with sand if I could help it. Because of the high clay content of the soil, I would make cement. I've spoken to several soil scientists that cautioned against amending clay soil with sand, although I see that advice all over the internet. The soil has enough compost. We have a lot of chickens, and the entire garden surface gets about 3" of compost a year. That's at the top end of the recommended amount, again based on the advice of University soil scientists. The front of the property is less wet than the area where I wanted to put the peonies. I am able to grow peaches towards the front, so I'm sure I can grow peonies. Maybe I'll just have to wait until the front is finished and I can see where the peonies can live.

There are quite a few of the Itohs that are yellow that have come down in price significantly in the last few years. I was told that Home Depot sometimes carries the bagged roots. I've seen posts on the Peony Forum in the past about people acquiring Bartzella and Garden Treasure that way. Also Costco carries them in some areas. Think the prices I saw on the forum were around $40 from both of those sources. Tagawa carries several Itohs but they're around $90 each. I think they're mainly sold blooming so you'll know what you're getting! Yumi is an absolutely gorgeous yellow that blooms prolifically and is one that Tagawa carries. Other nurseries carry them in CO, Tagawa is just the one that I've seen them at. That series is limited distribution locally, though. Bartzella is probably the most popular and commonly available yellow Itoh. It's amazing when seen as an established shrub. Getting P. Mlokosewitschii from Hillside is a very good source for a good price, just keep in mind these are grown from seed so could possibly end up blooming a different color. Molly sold blooming size that has a proven color is significantly more expensive. I have 2 seedlings that I got last year, they come in a 3-4 inch pot, probably around 6" long. Both came up this year but probably won't bloom for another 2-3 years. I think they came from Hillside. All of the species peonies that I've seen are very wet sensitive, need to be planted in a very well draining area and a bit shallower than lactifloras here in CO.