It was a very hard winter this year, and most of my peonies survived, but 2 tree peonies look dead. I see a little growth coming up from the ground, so I hope it will come back. Any experience with this?
Tree Peonies died to the ground
It is still pretty cool for you. Tree peonies have their new growth from the old, dead-looking branches.
If your plant was a graft, and it probably was, the growth from the ground needs to be removed so it does not take over. Herbaceous peonies need to be planted with their eyes about an inch deep. Tree peonies need to be planted about 8-12 inches deep. If you just planted the tree peony within the last year or two, it may not be planted deep enough. If it's been there awhile, check to see if the ground has heaved it up . Otherwise, don't worry. Just remove the herbaceous shoot. It is not that unusual. From the old growth, you will see little nodes growing and will come to life. Do not cut off the dead wood. They are pretty hardy plants.
Marcia
You can tell the herbaceous generally by the leaf. Herbaceous (which is the root stock for grafting) has a shiny leaf when it comes up. Tree peony leaves tend to be sort of matte or velvety.
I got a tree peony several years ago (Hesperus). We had a hard winter that year and it died to the ground. I called the grower, and was assured this had been grown 'own-root' and it would sprout from below ground, which it did. Hopefully yours will be fine too. It never died back again after that first year.
Mimi, it is gorgeous!
I bought rather inexpensive tree peonies imported from China--own root. I normally get some healthy shoots from close to the ground, even if the more exposed sections appear dead. This season even the upper parts came back to life, but it was delayed.
Moral of the story--don't get that pruner out yet unless you see something different coming from the roots.
I hate to prune off what is coming up; would it hurt to wait and see? The leaves look just like the original plant so far, wouldn't a root stock be another variety?
Absolutely will not hurt it to take a wait-and-see attitude. Post pics when you can.
I only clip when I see the leaves. The shiny leaves are clearly not TP.
I contacted Song Sparrow about my peony "Terpsichore". They said that the graft was way below ground, and likely T. would slowly grow back from the ground up.
Great news! Terpsichore is back as beautiful as ever! High Noon hasn't bloomed yet, so have to wait and see on that one.
Good news. Similar here. Several of my plants I thought were dead have revived, including the Rockii TP, a Sargent cherry and Marilyn Dwarf Ilex opaca. Boxwood must be dead as a doornail, so they just have a few more weeks left to shape up.
Yay! Tree peonies seem like very hardy shrubs.
Long time ago I ordered a yellow with red rims tree peony and the following year the flowers were red. So probably the tree peony died and the herbaceous one lived. I would like to buy 1 tree peony with own roots. Could someone recommend where to buy it inexpensively? I like with flowers that are not too heavy. The yellow tree peony that I had was huge and drooped, so I am not interested to buy that one again. Thanks for any advice.