Mine all top out at between 3 and 4 feet. Al

Thanks!

I have a friend in Sebastopol (California, not Russia) that grows a LOT of peonies. his High Noons (I believe he has 6 or more) are all taking off. Two last year grew from less than a foot to 4 or so feet tall. The others are all showing every sign of catching up this year. I also have High Noon, and mine has actually shrunk over the last year (maybe it's poorly placed). One thing he does do is use a special organic blend of fertliziler with Azomite (some sort of volcanic ash), and judging the growth speed a vigor of peonies from New Zealand, I'm thinking the big difference is that Azomite. For one thing, ALL of his peonies grow at a phenomenal rate (he has several hundred).

--Ron

Paeonia ludlowii and delavayi both grow considerably taller than P. x suffruticosa and the ostii- and rockii-hybrids.

There are dwarf tree peonies such as Alice Harding that rarely get taller than two feet. Hesphestos sp. in this area I have seen at about 5 1/2 feet before it was cut back for grafting

I'm of course no tree peony expert, but unless I'm mistaken about the way they grow in general , I'd think they'd continue growing considerably more than three or four feet, since the new buds are produced almost to the tips of the previous years growth, and thus , every year, the new growth would be taller , or should I say higher , unless off course there is dieback into two year old wood for some reason. I do understand as well there are limits, and perhaps new growth after a certain height may all be lateral growth or new branches produced lower on the plants, while the tops don't produce any ? Of course there are many plants that grow to a certain max , and then all new growth is lateral and not upward usually. I have a "yellow" mistake , which was labeled as another variety, and that's the only one that dies to the ground every winter, which tends to make me think , it's not a very cold hardy variety, though it looks a great deal like "high noon:" since I did see just one bloom the very first year it was planted. In general , since mine do produce upper buds on each new seasons growth in the following year , mine average at least three to six inches of growth every year without fail, baring the odd main shoot that dies all the way back , though rarely. I'd add as well, I guess though the originals in Asia etc. did get over ten feet tall and sometimes taller, I guess most U.S. ones rarely get over six to eight feet. perhaps because, as someone mentioned , there is a very different climate here in most zones. I'd take it those that have shown no additional growth in height in some time , must still produce new branches every year , perhaps from old wood lower on the main stems or old growth, or otherwise since the plants are deciduous and lose their leaves every fall, there would be no new leaves to sustain them, regardless of having new terminal growth? I will note, that in the case of some of mine , een though there's new terminal growth every year, it seems with the addtional weight on those main stems as new growth is added each year, the whole stems begin to lean more and more, so in that respect the growth is not so upright or they don't look much taller, even as the plants grow. Right now I"d guess the oldest of mine are perhaps 3-4ft. tall, and they're about seven years old , but were only six inches tall when planted from one year grafts.

Heck, not sure what I've got then but thought it was a tree peony and it would be over 10'tall!! It's in bud now (New Zealand) and we're coming into winter had thought it was a bit late for flowering!

It seems to me or should I say, I often wonder if those "natives" to the northern hemisphere ever change their "normal" flowering times once moved to the southern hemisphere, though it's ususually shortening or lengthening daylight hours which will prompt some plants to bloom as seasonal bloomers. However it seems in some cases it takes only certain temperatures and either a dry season or wet season combined with the daily highs or lows, to prompt flowering. I wonder if sometimes certain "transplanted" plants even after generations in a new hemisphere, ever do change their flowering times though? It's possible that many of those spring blooming northern hemisphere plants become "fall" bloomers I guess? I'd guess it's very hard to break those regular cycles , since it would involve changing the dormant cycles of those non-evergreen plants to much longer ones perhaps? It might involve skipping an entire seasons growth when changing hemispheres, and some plants resent perhaps having overly long dormant cycles? Oh well lots more questions than answers in my case unfortunately in that regards!

birdinthepalm, my 'High Noon' really hasn't grown any taller for several years. Since it is deciduous, it simply puts out new growth (leaves) along its old stems, and it puts out new flowering shoots immediately under the previous year's flowering shoots. These are probably about four inches long and completely die each winter. I don't think this is due to lack of cold-hardiness, though; that's just as tall as it intends to get. Apparently the situation is different in New Zealand, but I don't have any personal experience with that! :)

The weather is getting a bit cooler here now, and I'm really thinking of digging up my 'Rimpoh' and moving it to a spot where it won't be hidden behind my 'Gruss an Aachen' rose, as it currently is. After reading the comments here, I seriously doubt that 'Rimpoh' will ever achieve the 6-foot potential height that came on its description.

I bought a rockii this spring, and managed to find a spot where it really doesn't matter much whether it tops out at three or four feet or keeps growing. I've always admired them in photos, so when a local nursery got in a shipment for a decent price this spring, I decided to go ahead and give it a try!

I just purchased a 1 foot rimpoh. That includes leaves in the height. Do you think it is one or two years old? When will it bloom? Do I need to wait for the fall to plant it?

I have a shrub which a gardener identified as a tree peony, hasn’t flowered in the 3 years I’ve lived here. It has been trimmed back last autumn, but was a good 7’, I hope it flowers this year. I have just purchased a pale pink one at 1’ high, leaves and flowers already, but no care instructions or name. Sites like this are invaluable in these circumstances. I shall be back!

If you trimmed it back last fall you probably trimmed off the flowers. Depending on the type some produce their bloom buds near the end of the stem. Others are more forgiving. This year watch where the buds emerge from and plan any trimming based on that. Hopefully all of the bloom buds were not removed. The leaves and old blooms can be removed in the fall but here when deer were a major problem leaving the dead leaf stems with leaf material removed was the only way other than building protective boxes that the deer would not remove every bud on my plants.

Oh thank you for that, it seems to be shooting fine now we have had some warmer weather. It has never flowered so I have no idea what colour it is. I think the previous owners rammed shrubs I. So close to each other that nothing did well, just grew up to find the light! I’m excited for next year, I had redesigned my garden and been planting it with perennials so colour, at last hopefully. Thank you for your advice. How lovely to have deer close by, I have horses (and sometimes cows) but the horses eat all my espalier apples and pears.

Lovely to have deer except that they become overcrowded. When that happens they will eat everything available. Seeing them with their ribs visible because there is not enough food is very sad. When the get that bad they start developing diseases and die in great numbers. I hated it when hunts were done in the woods across the street from me started but knew it was necessary to prevent more tragedy both to the deer and the people that they would run in front of and hit them. The year I had 25+ antlered deer, young males, in my front yard one day eating acorns was the year before the hunts began.

Wow, nothing more exciting than pheasants, foxes and rabbits here. But I do love my home. It is awful when a cull is undertaken, but essential so that the remaining deer can thrive. Lovely to talk, thanks again for advice.

Tree peonies should be called shrub peonies, they are the shape of a shrub and usually mature at 4-41/2’

Thank you, I returned to the nursery and my new one is estimated to grow to 1.5 mtrs, the one already here when I moved in has been trimmed to about 2 mtrs, from a massive height!

Before a tree fell on the main bed at our Linda Hall Library there were several tree peonies that were more than eight feet tall. Guardian of the Monastery can make a tremendously large tree peony. Incredibly Delicious in Springfield, Illinois had a huge one the last time I was there.

My older tree peony, never flowered in the years I lived here has burst into flower! In the autumn I redesigned my garden and dug out some very old shrubs. I decided to treat it quite harshly and cut of around 2.5 feet. Seems it is grateful.