Advice on a tree peony

I planted 3 tree peonies this year (as I find them so beautiful) and I can't remember if this is the kinkaku souvenir de maxime cornu, the hu hong, or the shimanishiki, (as I forgot to write down the order).. but this one seems to be struggling (pic #1,2 & 3). All three are planted in the same bed, with adequate space on the south side of our property. The other two are (pic # 4 & 5) seeming to be doing excellent. I am sort of concerned that the one struggling is however not getting enough sun, because the neighbor has a denser section of fence and from what I have noticed he gets more shade.. I was thinking I should move the little guy (I just planted them this year in February), but am worried that this might kill him (as I read you do not want to move them after planting)? I know that if he were to grow a few inches taller the sun would hit more than half of him (it is so close!). He was at first doing great, and leaves were strong and healthy looking like the others, but recently the demise concerns me.. I also noticed that the soil seems to be retaining more water in this area as well, maybe that is the problem? Either way, I would appreciate your advice on what to do!!

Thanks

Hi poobear-
I am far from expert, but I do have 2 tree peonies i got from A&D peonies in 2008. Both looked like yours for the first three years, but we had those hard winters. They were both killed to the ground, or had stumpy things like yours. They were 'own-root' so sprouted up again like an herbaceous peony. This year they are great (well, we had a windstorm that blew one over). Mine are not in a too soggy place, except for the general soggy climate.
Tria is a soft yellow that I find hard to capture with a camera as it always looks washed out, Hesperus is a hard to describe pink like tissue paper.

Mine I got from the flower and garden show, and the Hu Hong is "own root" while the other 2 are grafted. I love the yellow of Tria! I can only imagine how nice the yellow is in person!

I am concerned about my one peony because the leaves used to be upright light the other two.. but have all the sudden gotten more "droopy" looking.. while the other two have leaves are still upright just like when they first sprouted and no wilting. Maybe because the droopy one is past the bloom time it was supposed to have??

Attached are some photos of the peony that made me fall in love with peonies! Two years ago when we first got our place, it was the first thing to really shine! The last image is what it looked like when we first moved in.. completely overgrown by a laurel.. (so was the rhododendron!). I had no idea a plant existed there (and later was able to pick it out in the laurel in pictures once I knew about it actually existing). Once I saw 1 bloom peaking out, the laurel was cut .. actually removed.. and for some reason just took off with crazy blooms this year! There is another peony with what looks like variegated leaves to the left of it, and has not bloomed (as I think it is being overshadowed). This last winter I thought I moved it, but found out I only moved half of the variageted one because two plants ended up sprouting! The one I moved, and it seemed like I had never touched the other one.. as it still came out looking the same as the year before.. I am going to try again to move that one so that it has enough room to finally shine as well.

I also got three peony herbaceous bulbs in a pack at costco, and made the mistake of planting them in a pot (at the time I didn't know very much about peonies and didn't realize this was no good). So I plan on moving them to the ground when the winter comes around to a spot where they can stay forever. I just can't believe the pink peony (as I have no idea what kind this is) survived such horrible care! The property was not lived in for 3+ years. I could tell at one time someone was a good gardener, as I unearthed a big raised bed with excellent soil under a safari of overgrown..

I am crossing my fingers my tree peony does ok though.. I am sort of freaking out that the droopy leaves are a really bad sign! When I got those I thought I had planted them in a really good spot that I could keep them there for the rest of time!

here is the photo of part of the peony I moved! There is just as big, if not bigger one just like this under the pink peony. The other photo is of the ones I mistakenly put in a pot.. and two close together.. ugh stupid mistake!

Hi Poobear. A small TP can take a while to get started. I'm not sure whether you need to move the TP, but the leaves look curled, so here are some other things you can try. The mulch looks pretty close to the trunk. Have you cleared it away by at least a few inches to keep it clear of the plant? Also, what is the ph of the site? I don't know what kind of mulch you have there, but I personally stay away from hemlock mulch around my peonies because of acidity. You can check ph with a meter and see if you are in the right ph level by putting it near the top and by pressing it deeper into the ground also. I plant mine with lime and lots of fireplace ashes as an automatic soil correction for our too acid soil. When does it get sun? Mine are fine with only morning sun. They need less sun than herbacious peonies. Herbacious peonies hate overly wet soil- don't know for sure about TPs. I usually struggle to get them enough water this time of year.