I have been going crazy over tree peonies and have bought about 12 of them in the past three years. To my surprise I found tree peonies and regular peonies growing from the same root. I guess they must have been grafted and I will need to remove the standard branches even if they are lovely flowers. Do any of you have suggestions or know of problems I might run into? Some of the blossoms on the tree peonies are a foot across! Jessamine
Tree peoniesgrafted on standard peonies?
Still don't have my first tree peony, but I'm wishing. Lucky you!! They are gorgeous! From what I've read, many are grafted onto herbaceous peony roots. Stronger roots, apparently. Have you checked any websites for pruning ideas? Maybe they'll have hints for you. Here's some great reading...
http://www.yardener.com/CaringforTreePeony.html
http://www.kelways.co.uk/acatalog/Care_of_your_Tree_Peony.html
http://www.bbpeony.com/
http://www.treepeony.com/treePeonyCare.html
One source said that French, American and Japanese and hybrids are grafted and Chinese peonies are not. The second source gives directions for different types of them, so it might be of greater help to you.
Hey Kooger, thanks for the comeback and links, especially the task chart. It is always hard for me to keep track of when to do what. To tell the truth, none of my tree peonies is in the very expensive range and I have put off buying a lot of other plants in favor of these beauties and hydrangeas. When we came here 6 years ago from Wisconsin, I moved a huge part of my gardens with me in big planter pots so those kept me quite busy getting them established so I didn't buy too much else new except for water garden plants. The parks dept. greenhouse has a sale every year and I was able to get some there at very reasonable prices. When they are big enough I will be happy to share but that may be a while. Jessamine
You're welcome -I printed out the chart - and I don't have any tree peonies yet! guess it's that anticipation!!