This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Garden Dreams: Tree Peonies

May 15th, 2009

I would love to get a tree peony. I’ve always thought they’re so pretty and so interesting, but oh so very expensive. My mom’s neighbor has one that blooming right now, and I went to a farm yesterday and the owner had this beauty in his flowerbed. I think this is a ‘Palace of the Purple Clouds’.
pink-tree-peony-blossom
The bees loved it! He actually has sister bees to our bees, he happened to be picking up his bees at the same time we were getting ours.
pink-tree-peony
I don’t know if I’ll ever get a tree peony, I think I’d have a hard time spending so much on one plant. But who knows, perhaps I’ll get one someday.

Anyone have a tree peony or want one?

16 Comments to “Garden Dreams: Tree Peonies”
  1. Mangochild on May 15, 2009 at 5:26 am

    I’ve never heard of a tree peony… but your post hit home for me how much I’m learning from your blog – so many varieties of plants out there to explore. Right now I’m looking for ones to set out in the front yard area just next to the house…. and each time I read a post I change my mind – there is another one that I’d not even considered!

    Mangochild’s last blog post.. The Mystery Revealed: News in the LocalZone Garden

    Reply to Mangochild's comment

  2. Millie on May 15, 2009 at 8:54 am

    I read my mind. Love your post. I was thinking the very same things. I participated in a tour out at Secrest Arboretum in Wooster this week and the tree peonies are just starting. I have loved them ever since I saw my first one out there a few years ago. I have to satisfy myself with visiting them there. I don’t think blogging will make us rich enough to buy one..but one can dream… Maybe….
    Still..one of those is definitely moving up on my list of most desired plants, and I’m starting to think about where it should go and what to plant with it. I did that with my red twig dogwoods–and I love that little plot. But red twig dogwoods came at bargain price. LOL

    Millie’s last blog post.. Food Friday

    Reply to Millie's comment

    • lucy on June 12, 2009 at 5:07 am

      I have the peony obsession too and having seen my first herbaceous peony flower after a few years, I got another and then I sought out some tree peony seeds from an English site ( http://www.phedar.com ) so in about three to five years time I should have tree peonies ( gansu mudan ) all over my roof terrace. How do I contain my anticipation for that long? Well, I bought some teasle seeds a few days ago……..

      Reply to lucy's comment

  3. lee on May 15, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Tree peonies are great, unfortunately I live in a wrong area for tree peonies. I tried to grow them several times and failed miserably. Two of them managed to flower for me but none of them survived for more than 3 years. In all I believe I killed 6 of them and they were very expensive too. I swore never again but you just tempted me to try to grow them again Susy. You’re trouble lol.

    Reply to lee's comment

    • Capri Dillon on January 10, 2011 at 9:38 pm

      Where do you live? just curious. I live in zone 8 and there is a lot of debate about whether they will grow here (Hot Springs, AR)

      Reply to Capri Dillon's comment

      • Susy on January 11, 2011 at 8:03 am

        Zone 5, in NE Ohio.

        to Susy's comment

  4. Karen on May 15, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    I just heard of these this year, and I really really want one too but agree that they are expensive, especially since I’m not sure I have the right space for one. Plus, I am trying to add mostly evergreen shrubs, not things that die back to the ground and leave a big hole all winter long. The nursery where I was looking at them only had single-flowering yellow ones so they were easy to resist. If I’d seen the one you show, I don’t know if I would have had the willpower!

    Karen’s last blog post.. GBBD – May 15, 2009

    Reply to Karen's comment

  5. Lona on May 15, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    They are just gorgeous. I just planted one that I received free with an order and I cannot wait to see it bloom.

    Lona’s last blog post.. Honey Locust Trees

    Reply to Lona's comment

  6. Cheryl on May 15, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    I have one blooming right now. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t find out until this year what it was (thanks to a fellow blogger). I chopped it down the last few years.

    Cheryl’s last blog post.. Taking a day off.

    Reply to Cheryl's comment

  7. […] feeds this great stream bed. They also use the spring to irrigate the crops, how great is that! Speaking of tree peonies, I spotted this one is his garden as we were leaving, what a beauty! It’s always nice to meet […]

    Reply to Visiting the Working Gardens in Massillon, OH | Chiot’s Run's comment

  8. Helen at Toronto Gardens on May 16, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    Tree peonies are also on my wish list. However, first on my wish list would have to be about ten square feet more space. Sigh. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another!

    Reply to Helen at Toronto Gardens's comment

  9. A Day at the Farm | Chiot's Run on May 28, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    […] her chickens and has her main vegetable gardens. It’s a beautiful farm, the gardens are lovely (this is the one with the tree peony). My nieces were super excited to show me the chicken area and hunt for eggs. We had a great time […]

    Reply to A Day at the Farm | Chiot’s Run's comment

  10. Jane on April 27, 2010 at 11:35 am

    I have two tree peonies – and they are gorgeous this spring. The older one looks like the picture you have posted. The blooms are large and showy and the plant increases in size every year. I don’t prune it to look like a tree although I could. I like the more bushy, natural look because it is so pretty even when the blooms have faded. The seed pods add interest too so I often just leave them on.

    Reply to Jane's comment

  11. Amy Hall on August 8, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    First of all, I love your chronicle. Alway great pctures and writeup.
    I am new to TREE PEONIES. I don’t know why. It just seemed easier to plant. Two years ago, I started with 2 tree peonies, High Noon and Koukamon; this year, I added – Hana Kisoi,and Hephestos.

    Just discovered how big the blooms are. The plants in my own garden are still new and already, I am very happy that I took that step of buying tree peonies. Now that I have a peony farm, I am making sure that customers and visitors alike are introduced to tree peonies.

    Reply to Amy Hall's comment

  12. Lyn Chudoba on October 17, 2012 at 12:16 am

    I just discovered I have one today! We bought a vacation home at the beach in South Carolina. This morning I went outside and there was this gorgeous pink bloom on top of a tall and scraggly 8 or 9′ plant. It was the first to bloom. The plant had many buds. I wish I was staying longer so that I could enjoy the other blooms. I broke off the dead stalks. It is planted at the base of other trees w/a drainage ditch behind it. I need to find out more about its care. I’d like to trim it so that it bushes more and makes a nice screen in non-blooming months. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks, Lyn

    Reply to Lyn Chudoba's comment

  13. annie S on May 15, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    I have one and did not know what it was until this year. It was there when I moved in twenty years ago.
    Jow expensive are they? I have never seen any at a nursery.
    Mine blooms and is gone by May 1st about two or three weeks before the regular plants.

    Reply to annie S's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

Admin
Read previous post:
Ants and Peonies?

What is it about ants and peony buds? It is believed that peony buds emit a sweet sap that the...

Close