Hi All: Upon the insistence of my beloved and against my better zone 5 judgement, I got a tree peony called something I immediately forgot after I planted it. I paid $15.00 Canadian for it, which was, I thought, a cheap price for peace. Now, the thing sat for awhile, then leafed out like an umbrella and, for all intents and purposes, has turned into a lawn sculpture, showing no activity for the last two months. It is just over a foot high. Carol (my spouse) was expecting something that at least _looked_ like a tree (or bush), like the pretty ones that you see in the catalogues. I sort of thought it would at least make the attempt at growth, even though I do not think it will stand much of a chance against our winter, if we have another like last year. Is this normal? I do remember that it is two year old stock. My "normal" peonies are thriving after being transplanted this spring and in sweet bloom. I prefer the older types and I can't kill these with a hammer. I once left a root ball sitting in full sun on a jumble of rocks for over three weeks before I found it again. I planted it and it came up the next year and bloomed. My type of plant. Cast iron roots. On a completely different note: Is Ligularia a geophyte? Rand > > Sources of tree peonies are few and far between. Prices are somewhat artificially high due to few propagators and few cvs available in the US. Some cvs are harder to graft than others and some are slower to produce their own roots than others so many factors are at work. The major grafters of tree peonies in the US are 'Song Sparrow Nursery', 'Brother's Herbs and Peonies', 'Reath Nursery' and then it goes down to a few here and there. > Tree peonies are grafted in higher numbers overseas with Japan probably being foremost, then the UK and various EU countries and Australia (yes Australia). Some of these places offer grafted TP in large (wholesale) numbers for a few dollars each. -- Rand Nicholson Zone 5b Eastern Maritime Canada