It's puzzling that Mary Sue Ittner, on the northern California coast, would lost Mediterranean Paeonia species in the garden. As far as I know, nothing eats the roots. They are subject to Botrytis and perhaps other diseases. I grew Paeonia mascula in a couple of forms for many years in my previous garden (the large plants are still there, and about to flower, as I saw Tuesday when I was out there cleaning up a bit). They have also self-sown. When Josef Halda was collecting wild Paeonia seed a lot I bought quite a few species and had them in various parts of that garden, particularly on the east side of a large shrub border, since Josef told me that when young these plants do best in part shade. Last year I dug and potted quite a few of my species peonies and brought them to my new garden. Most of them survived the move and I'm happy to see some of my favorites emerging with buds now. I don't know how they'll handle the clay soil here but I put them on a fairly steep bank that has a bit leafier soil than the flatter parts of the lot. I saw that some of the plants I dug are coming back in their original sites from roots I missed; some kinds of peonies will do this, others not. The single flowers of species Paeonia don't last as long as the garden hybrids' flowers but they're very welcome in early spring, and the foliage is good all summer. As Mary Sue mentioned, germination is slow; the plants have hypogeal germination, meaning they make a radicle (initial root) the first season and then put their first leaf above ground the second season. However, it's well worth the wait. I keep my seedling plants in 6-inch pots until they have been above ground for two years, then plant out the roots when the leaves wither in fall. You need to keep the crowns near the soil surface. Another thing I would mention about Paeonia seed is that it has a lot of moisture in it. When I was doing the intake phase of the NARGS seed exchange in the mid-1990s, I noticed that donations including Paeonia sometimes had mold problems because of moisture from the Paeonia seeds affecting the whole package. Wrapping the big seeds in waxed paper would help prevent this. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA At 07:40 AM 4/7/2011, you wrote: >The few times I've seen species of Paeonia I've been enchanted but >always thought where I live in Northern California I wouldn't be able >to grow them. Then I saw one in a garden in South Australia where I >was told it bloomed before the summer heat set in and then remained >dormant in summer. Early in the history of this list I organized >Topics of the Week for almost 2 and a half years and Jim Waddick who >is an expert on this genus and who has written a book about it was >kind enough to provide wonderful introductions. ><http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…> ><http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/… >