It should have some little reddish buds on it called "eyes," that slightly resemble the eyes on a potato. Check to make sure the root has at least three of these. If not, get your money back. If so, then you want to plant it so that those little eyes are facing up, and no more than 2" from the soil surface. The orientation of the root doesn't matter; you want those little eyes near enough to the surface and facing in the correct direction.

By the way, next time you get a peony, wait for fall. They will do better if planted in Septemeber or October.

Thanks you!

I don't see anything reddish, just three white things like on an old potato. You can one in the photo on the right side. Are those the eyes? If so, then it would be planted "fat" side up?

Billy

Hi Billy,

Here's a link to a picture of a peony root. You should have some eyes resembling these on your root. If not, I would return it. I can't really see the whitish thing you're referring to: if you wanted to post a bigger picture of it, maybe I could tell. All the peonies I've planted have had reddish eyes, but I'm sure it's possible some are white. Check out this picture and see if what you've got looks anything like it.

Also, are you sure what you have is a herbaceous peony (a perennial flower) and not a tree peony (a shrub)? Because if it's a tree peony, than what I've said won't apply. I was assuming it was herbaceous.

Here is a link that might be useful: peony site with a pic of the bare-root

Okay, I just saw that you said it was 'Bowl of Beauty," so it is a herbaceous peony after all. And as for your latter question, you should plant it in whatever orientation will satisfy the need to have the eyes facing upward, not too deep. It doesn't matter how the root is placed so long as these conditions are satisfied.

I believe the white shoot in your picture is an eye that has sprouted. Plant it so the long roots to the left in your picture point down and and the sprouted eyes are up.

That said, Jayco is right about fall being the best time to plant bare root peonies, and with it being spring and the eyes already sprouted, the situation is not ideal. If it were you, I would put it in a pot for the first year so you can coddle it, and plant it out in the ground next year. Since you would then be planting a potted plant rather than a bare root one, spring would be fine for planting.

- Steve

Thank you all! I really appreciate the help more than you know!

I know fall is the ideal time to plant peonies, I have three "reg" ones you can get anywhere throughout the yard, but when I saw this one, I just had to have it.
I thought it would probably just grow a few leaves, no flowers though unfortunately until the following year, or two.

Jayco, the picture in your link helped a lot!
And yes, your right, it is a herbaceous peony bush.

Steve, well, I planted it after reading jayco's post and before seeing yours, so I hope I didn't mess things up! Should I dig it up and plant it in a pot? If I don't, what would happen? Would you leave the pot outside all winter? Sorry for all the questions.....

I planted the long roots down, the crown is about an inch or two under the soil.
I know I probably won't see a lot of growth. I'll wait for fall if I get anymore, hopefully one that's a plant, not bare root.

Billy

Billy,

If you order for fall what you will receive will be a bare root with one end knobby. With luck you will be able to see pink or white knobs these are the roots. If you are in doubt of which end should be planted up. Plant it horizonal. In several years the roots will grow the correct way. Mother Nature is wonderful and allows plants to adjust themselves over time. She is also cruel. If the plant does not adjust it dies.

maifleur,

Thank you for the information!I almost did plant the peonies sideways, but on closer inspection, I saw a little bit of a pinkish color on one of the white buds, so now I know they can be white, as well as red and not panic!

I agree about Mother Nature being wonderful and cruel. The cruel part is not so good, but the wonderful part I believe helps keep us all a little more sane!
Next time I think I'll be a little wiser when it comes to planting from all the wonderful help I have gotten here!

Thanks again,
Billy

Two of the peonies I planted were not coming up, so I suspected that they were planted upside down. It's the end of April, still early enough in the season, so I dug them up and planted them with the long stick-like protrusions under the ground, and the little sprouts closer to the surface. Next time I'll know that the long stem-like protrusions are really not stems, but instead they are the roots.

Billy, you can plant peonies in the spring, I do it every year, but you have to be more careful about not letting the plant dry out once it starts growing. If you plant in the fall the root will have the entire winter and early spring to acclimatize and start growing in to its new location before putting out any new growth. Most people and sellers of peonies as well divide peonies in the fall which is absolutely best, doing it when they're not dormant can set the peony back by quite a lot if not kill it off entirely but that's not what you're talking about here. Just leave your new peony in place, water it in well to make sure you don't have any air pockets around the root, and water occasionally during the spring and summer. Make sure you have it in a sunny, well drained location and it should be fine. Water but don't overdo it, they don't like boggy situations.

If you got your Bowl of Beauty from a big box store in one of the little bags you probably only had one or two eyes, they're put out there at a really good price but it'll take a year or 3 longer to see blooms. If your root had 3 or more eyes and at least 1 good sized feeder root you could see blooms as early as spring 2016.

I order from Gilbert Wild every spring since the selections are different from those they offer in the fall. To date I haven't lost a single spring planted peony but I've also only had one bloom the same spring. I've probably planted at least 50 peonies in the spring. In contrast, probably at least 40-60% of the herbaceous peonies I planted in fall bloom the next spring. So even though you have to wait the entire fall, winter and early spring you'll actually get flowers faster by planting in the fall rather than spring.

Eloy Jerome, did the stick like protrusions look a bit like skinny, long sweet potatoes? If so, those are the feeder roots. You should see the eyes kinda perched on top of those roots. Some varieties have roots that look more like woody, fat, short sticks but the eyes are mostly at the top, regardless. Whichever yours look like just look for the eyes and point them up when planting, depth depends on your zone. Warmer zones you'll want them closer to the surface, colder zones more deeply but not more than 2 inches below the soil surface for the tops of the eyes. You might have to wash off the roots to figure out the main concentration of the eyes and some roots will have eyes pointing in different directions! Just try to situate the root so most of the eyes point up. There can be some stems still attached to the roots, especially if you're planting Itohs or hybrids just to make it even more confusing....

Ha, got me there, didn't even notice how old this post was before your comment, Eloy Jerome.

Yea, they were kind of like really skinny sweet potatoes. I hope the shock from transplanting them right-side-up doesn't kill them. I watered them with miracle grow to help strengthen them from handling shock. I'll keep crumbling some dirt on top of them and lightly pat it down, and water them with miracle grow frequently for a week or two until they get going. I hope they do okay. I wish nurseries and peony sellers would tag the peony roots marking them: "Top" and "Bottom", because in the fall it is hard to tell by looking at the roots which end is which. I can hardly wait to see them bloom. I like cutting the open flowers and plunging them in a bucket of water to shake the ants off, then bring them in the house and put them in a glass of water to sit on my end table. The rich rose-aroma is a great pick me up for me. I like the peonies that grow without needing any staking in the garden the best.

I agree, it can get confusing. The best thing I've found to do is have a water hose nearby while planting. I wash all of the dirt off the root and look for the eyes and plant so those are mostly pointed up. Sometimes that puts the roots straight down, sometimes they go horizontally but all is okay as long as the eyes are in the right position. And as long as you weren't seeing much growth from the eyes your roots should make it through the replanting fine.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind the next time I plant some. The two roots that I righted are "White Ivory" a mid season bloomer and "Mrs. Frank Beach" a late season bloomer. I'll keep giving them TLC, and hope that they'll make it. Peonies are a good investment, where one peony plant will give many years of reward. Growing irises are good too, because they multiply like rabbits.