I have raised beds filled with planter's mix and have often wished I'd made them deeper and added rocks for drainage, please report back how that works for you! Peonies aren't really picky about soil as long as it's well drained. Adding compost is always a good idea. I'd probably do a combination of compost and garden or top soil. You might want to dig out your peony before you put too much rock on the bottom though--if it's been in place for long the root can be pretty big, wide and long, so that 1 1/2 ft deep hole might be pretty accurate for planting! Make sure you post pics next spring of your flowers!

I hope that you don't mind me butting in here Liz.

Galinas, if your natural soil is sand and rocks, I don't think that you should add anymore rocks to the planting hole for drainage. Sounds to me like it is already well drained enough for the purpose of growing peonies. What you probably need to add is compost and alot of it to help your natural sandy soil retain moisture and nutrients. So if you already have compost, you can use it along with the natural soil in your yard enough to fill the hole around the transplanted peony. If you don't have enough garden soil ready in your yard, you can buy cheap top soil and mix your compost in with it. But please don't use anymore rocks for drainage.

Good point, Karen! I was thinking of my raised beds that are on harder clay so they don't drain as well as they should. Galinas, if your soil is really sandy and rocky adding compost and soil and leaving out the rock would probably be best. You don't want your peonies to sit in water but you also don't want the planting spot to be bone dry and hot.

Thank you, guys... The soil is rocky and sandy, but it is terribly hard - it is not natural, it is construction fill, and doesn't drain well. If I fill that hole with water, it will stay there for at least an hour, this is why I think about adding rocks on the bottom. And yes, I may dig the hole even deeper for it, to make kind of drain for whole basin. I do have plenty of compost, so I guess I just mix the soil I dug out with enough compost to fill the hole.

Thank again!

Even after you have removed the rock, you still have draining problem? That does not sound like sandy soil. You probably have hard clay as subsoil. If that is the case, your first instinct is correct. Dig a deep hole and place rocks below for drainage as you plan. Perhaps you should also consider raised bed like Liz suggested.

Yes, raised bed is a must have in my yard, so that is not even under the question), Also they are not going to be 1.5 foot high may be like 10 inches above the soil level.

I've converted quite a bit of my "yard" (prairie grass!) into raised beds over the last few years, most areas aren't over 10" but that's plenty to make a big difference when you have poor soil. I was actually thinking about digging out and adding drainage of some sort to the next area to be done because it's a nasty area of rocky clay. I'm really looking forward to seeing your finished garden with blooming peonies and hearing of the do's/don't do's that you come up with along the way. Good luck with your new garden, galinas!

I live on the East Coast with wet winters and wet springtime, Hudson Valley zone 6. My back yard is mostly clay (with rocks cleverly embedded) at the bottom of a slope. My peonies don't seem to mind the wet winter. After the first few transplanted from the dry front yard did better in back, I've bought more and more. I have them with hostas, sedum, vinca and cassia - not much else has been happy there over the years. They are well-mulched with compost, but that's about it.

Daisy, I'm in the HV too.planting my first peonies this year. I'm planning on using containers. My soil is non-existent, I have rocks and sand.. Any good are appreciated!