Tree peonies have long been the flowers of nobility in the Orient and have gotten a much undeserved reputation in the United States as a plant that is difficult to grow.   This is likely due to inexpensive Chinese varieties being offered by many outlets, which are not well adapted to northern climates.   All tree peonies do take time to mature, but may live for many hundreds of years given proper care.   Flowers often appear other-worldy due to their incredible size and sometimes crepe paper-like texture.  Tree peonies are not trees, but do have persistent woody stems that may attain heights of 2 feet to over 8 feet (this will depend on the cultivar and/or location of planting).  The plants provide 4 seasons of interest and in my opinion should be more widely grown in our northern gardens.  If I had but one small space to plant a garden, this plant would be the choice!

Solaris Farms sells plants that we think are the best performers and most unique tree peonies available.  Our smaller offerings are generally two to three year old plants.  Our larger offerings can range in age from 3 to 5+ year plants.  Once our tree peonies have surpassed the seventh year, they are typically too large to move without severe damage or setback and are no longer of saleable size.     Customers find that our three year to five year stock are usually larger than most other nursey's large offerings.  Plants grown in our Wisconsin fields tend to grow quickly and produce heavy stems and many below ground level buds.

All of our offerings are plants grafted and grown at Solaris Farms and are of excellent quality.  At the time of shipping we will remove the nurse root at the graft, if sufficient tree peony roots have grown.  If the herbaceous peony understock remains, the plant will do equally as well in our experience.  Our grafted plants also have the advantage of nurse roots that do not produce adventitious eyes and growth (plants will not be overrun by their herbaceous nurse roots).   After three years, or so, it may be beneficial to dig the plant back up and remove the nurse root and allow the tree peony to be an 'own root plant' (this only needs to be done if the plant shows slow or retarded growth).  Some of the tree peonies we sell are division stock and will need no attention at time of shipping.  All shrub peonies will be marked with a zip tie that indicates approximate planting depth, so you need not worry about this.  Don't be surprised to see that the tie is well above the root system on a branch. The finest garden specimen tree peonies develop deep root systems and deep planting  will encourage this much sought after characteristic.

Our shrub Peonies may be available in two different sizes:  Select and Basic.  Plants listed as basic are generally one well developed stem with nurse root and are 2 to 3 years of age.  These are starter plants, that will generally bloom in their second year after planting and tend to be the easiest plants to get going.   Select plants generally have large stocky stem(s), emerging eyes, may have some developing tree peony roots and are 3 to 5 years of age.  All plants we offer are not the same spindly material you find at local box stores or potted at nurseries, but are very vigorous and healthy plants with large stores of energy.  Please note that smaller plants generally establish more quickly and larger plants take an extra year to become established.  All plants will be pruned backed heavily before shipping (most of the stem tissue will be removed), as this increases their ability to get a good growing start (leaving long stems with buds on can be a detriment to establishing a plant).  Please see our Peony Culture and FAQ's page for planting and cultural instructions.