The very first peonies I ever purchased were clearance ones in July at K-Mart 20+ years ago--they were $1.00 each. They were from their Martha Stewart collection and I still have a division of one of them!

Unless you are planning on investing lots of money or are one of the people that must know the name of every plant you have buying peonies at the end of the season is very smart. It allows you to have color at an inexpensive cost. Also tags do get switched and I have acquired a couple of very expensive peonies because the nursery would rather sell than throw away. I do have this hatred of people who switch tags from one plant to another then expect the seller to replace the original plant at no cost. Then they have two plants for the price of one because most nurseries will not ask for the other plant back since it is already in the ground. The other thing is just removing the tag and asking for a "no name" special price.