Thank you, rosaprimula! It's good to hear from another grower, further along the road than I am. And I'll consider the Hardy Plant Society, though I'm guessing it's a UK organization? Since Brexit I'm a bit spooked. Will look into it, in any case.

Good luck with your projects, and thanks again!

I've always liked the look of peonies, but had read they weren't happy in the south. But last spring Walmart had two or three varieties in the bulb section, and I bought a Sarah Bernhardt on impulse. I planted it in a pot. It didn't bloom, but I read that that is normal for a young, newly planted one. It looked pretty bad by the end of last year, and I thought it wouldn't come back, but yesterday I saw the first shoot coming up! I'm really hoping for a flower or two this year.

grrr, did a long response then my battery cut out. Will post later when not so irritated. Do please check out the HPS - they send seed worldwide. Good for you also, Bellgallica, as mediterranean paeonies have proved viable in the southern US - cambessedessii (sp?), corsica, coriecea, peregrina, algeriensis, parnassica...and also p.californica

What a charming post, Melissa!

One of my more unusual volunteers is a tree peony. It came up between a couple of white pines all by its little self. I keep thinking I should move it to a more hospitable place, but I'm not sure how much of a root system I can pry out from between the white pine roots. I've moved tree peonies before, but out of garden beds.

rosaprimula, I understand your frustration!! Hoping to hear your further thoughts once you've recovered. I did look up the Hardy Plant Society, and am considering joining it.

Thanks, Sheila. Do you grow peonies? I can't remember. I think they'd do well for you.

mad_gallica, how do you move a tree peony? I'd quite like to get my seedling out of the propagation bed, but it's a mature plant, 5-7 years old. Also I have a red one that's been in place for close to twenty years now, in bad soil, its roots likely dug into sedimentary rock, that would look much better somewhere other than where it is. I did move a plant of 'Chromatella' last year, which almost, but not quite, died. Oh, and another question: what was the ancestry of your volunteer tree peony?

How do you move a tree peony - Carefully?

I've moved them similarly to how I move herbaceous peonies, with the exception that I try a lot harder not to break off roots. Even being careful, it takes them a year or three to recover.

I can't even guess the parentage of my volunteer. My neighbor has a larger collection of tree peonies than I do, and this plant isn't much closer to mine than to his.

You can see the base of one of the white pines in the background. (it hasn't bloomed yet this year, but has buds.)

Melissa, I do not yet grow peonies here. I did gift a local friend here with an Itoh peony which is doing very well.

I would move a path before I would move a tree peony.

Thanks, mad_gallica, that's about what I thought. I like your volunteer!

Sheila, it's almost easier to just grow another. I hope I'm lucky with my seedlings.

I also have a dread of moving Teas once they're a few years old. I don't know why they frighten me so much more than the once-blooming old roses, for example.

This thread reminds me of how much I want to get my current projects under control enough to allow me time for starting stuff from seeds, etc.

Melissa, perhaps your fear of moving Teas has something to do with the fact that they don't like to be pruned much? because of this ,one is reluctant to cut off top growth to compensate for loss of root mass?

Anyhow, before moving my magnolia Leonard Messel and my wisteria, I did do some research on-line and made inquiries on these Houzz forums and the Gardenorg forums, and I'm glad I did so; I had no idea that magnolia roots were so fragile, and I'm very grateful to the person that warned me of this fact in advance. But I will point out that the plants I moved-Leonard Messel and wisteria Prolific-are both easy to replace. I don't know that I'd want to move something rare and unique.

Still so excited that my first and so-far-only Peony has returned from it's first brutal summer that I took a picture. Reading the posts about moving them, makes me think I should do that eventually, get it out of the pot and into the ground. Since I didn't have high hopes for it, I also put a baby rose in the same pot so, yeah, gonna have to move something this fall. What should I do?

They will need to be in separate pots. Maybe this Fall?

Bart, I think you're exactly right about why I fear shifting Teas. It seems to wrong to cut them back hard, even in order to move them. Another thing is that I have nowhere convincing to move them to. I've dug out in the big garden, preparing holes, but am little more convinced than before that Teas will be happy there. Conditions in some fashion need to change.

Also I note your need to get your garden sufficiently under control before undertaking propagation projects. I don't grow from seed much--possibly that will change with peonies, who knows?--but propagate quite a few plants from cuttings in particular, especially the Lamiaceae: rosemary, sages, phlomis, germander; plants I need as filler and for low hedges. Also some shrubs, including roses. Do you have any space at home to do this? Because I can see how propagating at your garden would be difficult. Or are you having trouble starting a new activity? something I find hard myself.

bellegallica, you should probably put the two plants in separate pots, but wait until fall to do so. I would gently dump out the contents of the pot rather than trying to dig out one of the residents. Herbaceous peonies are in two parts, the tubers below, and the growth buds above: the plant needs both to grow. They're not strongly connected, so you have to be gentle when handling them. You can divide a large plant, cutting it into pieces, but each piece needs at least one growth bud and a tuber. I've dug and moved and divided herbaceous peonies and they're not that hard; you just need to know the basics.

Thank you for the great advice, Melissa. The rose was just a band so they should be fine together until the peony dies back in the fall.

Hi, Melissa. Actually my problem is that I've got too much on my plate. All the mainienance-type stuff for the garden project (cutting weeds and grass and brambles and worse, watering, getting water, fertilizing, pruning, soil improvement, soil "building",etc),plus building rose/plant supports (there are still areas where climbers are flopping about), terracing walls, etc. Then there's trying to keep my hand in with my painting; painting is actually very tiring for me, requires such intense concentration. And then all the rest of it-doing wash, grocery shopping, dentist and doctor stuff, etc, etc. I don't have as much energy as I used to-or at least it doesn't seem so to me. I wish I would get up earlier,for example; I don't know whether it was chemo or covid or what, but I seem to need to sleep more than I used to . Not to mention the fact that in summer I'm obliged to maintain a somewhat vampiric lifestyle, lol- I have to wait until evening to do my watering, and that takes a long time so I get home at 11pm/midnight, then have to shower and eat ,so I get to bed only in the wee hours,and I can't seem to change my schedule back enough once summer is over. I did get a drip-watering kit, which I have yet to set up (another must-do project),but that will require some tweaking around (for example, buying a somewhat fatter hose),and that may or may not help things along somewhat.

Another issue is my pot ghetto. I must get that greatly reduced before I can start in with propagating. And this will take a couple of years yet, at least, since water limitations oblige me to only put out a limited number of new plants each season.

bart, that sounds quite dreadfully busy.

Unrelatedly, you do make me really curious to know what your garden looks like (I realize I've said this before). You don't have any friends who love to take photos? Or you just prefer not to post pictures of it here?

Thanks for your response.

I think our forum is really helping me see how we are all dealing with our lives challenges and aging and keeping our gardens healthy too. It is a complex juggling act and so interesting to see how people deal with their issues in their differing climates and locales.

I think I might end up with an overgrown jungle like the Grey Garden's ladies.

Actually I want to buy myself a camera,but with all the other stuff I have going on,posting pictures on a forum is a very ,very low priority. What's more, I think I read somewhere that photos posted on these forums automatically become the property of Houzz?

Years ago, I did learn how to post photos on a forum, but then it all changed. I find this a hideously annoying thing about electronic/computer things; "they" feel compelled to "update" how things are done and whatnot,and I just don't like to spend time and energy on that sort of thing.

Sheila, very true. I hope to continue on for a good while yet.

bart, as I commented once on a forum, I want to spend my energies using technology, not learning how to use technology. Definitely a fan of the trailing edge, well debugged.