Solaris Farms, over the past several years, has been working to bring both herbaceous and tree peonies into our offerings and display gardens.  We have worked hard to propagate some of the finest peonies available anywhere. Our tree peony offerings are among the finest in quality and size available on the market today.  Peonies are ideal plants for the north and are extremely hardy in our difficult climate (this includes tree peonies).  The plants are extremely long lived with some basic care and should provide a lifetime of enjoyment.  Typically peonies 'appear' to be rather expensive, but the gardener should take into consideration the longevity of this plant, as well as the interest it can generate after flowering (excellent foliage during summer, as well as good color in the fall).  Our peonies are field grown and are only sold as bare root plants.  All are blooming size unless otherwise noted and should be good performers for our customers in a relatively short period of time.  

With the assistance of William Seidl and Kris Casey our peony program has grown leaps and bounds.  Bill Seidl has been an invaluable resource for both information, plant material and grafting labor.  If you aren't familiar with Bill, he is a world recognized hybridizer of both herbaceous and hybrid tree peonies.  His contributions to the peony world include some outstanding peony hybrids as well as assistance to the body of knowledge concerning this group of plants.  In my opinion his greatest accomplishment has been the ambassadorship he has so freely given to the peony world.  Bill is responsible for introducing many, many people to the pleasures of growing peonies, as well as educating them.  Kris Casey, of course, can be found working at our farm during the summer months and is a Bill Seidl convert as well.  Kris has a large peony collection, as well, and has provided many recommendations concerning peony cultivars.  She has also freely given time and efforts to make our peony program a stand out.  I owe both of these outstanding people a debt of gratitude-Thanks Bill and Kris!

The image below is an example of Bill's fine art work and botanic interpretation of Paeonia species (he isn't just a great peony hybridizer).  Click on the image for a full page version with narrative.