Peonies

Few flowers will offer a lifetime of blooms. Peonies will. It is not uncommon for these sturdy plants to live 50 years, so site them where they'll grow fuller and more beautiful with each passing season. Then savor their early summer blooms forever.

Peony flowers come in a variety of forms - single, double, Japanese, rose, bomb - and below you'll find some of the best of each type. This grouping focuses on those with fragrance, which most gardeners assume is a given with peonies, but sadly that isn't the case. Many, if not most, newer cultivars have been selectively bred for color or flower form, and that amazing peony fragrance has been allowed to fall by the wayside. In addition to scent in all but a handful of these cultivars, you'll also find a number of heirloom varieties here, tried and true plants that have graced rural homesteads and, later, suburban homes for 100 years or more. In addition to sumptuous blooms, peonies offer lush foliage that holds its fresh look all season making these outstanding backbone plants and excellent frames for late summer lilies, dahlias and black eyed Susans.

Note: We haven't offered peonies on this website before because our staff was concerned about misleading warm weather gardeners regarding likely success. But so many of you have asked for peonies that we've decided to include them here along with advice to help you determine for yourself whether these are a good fit for your region. Peonies are perfectly hardy in cold weather areas, it's the warmer regions that are questionable, so use your best judgment. Here's a guide to planting peonies in warm regions.

We encourage you to check our peony prices against the competitions' for same-size product and suspect you'll be pleased with what you find.

Shipping: Peony roots ship from mid September through December. These should be planted upon receipt.