the top one clearly has a plump bud.. i dont know what more you want of that one...

hard to tell on the other... i dont see anything viable...

yours is the first post.. where the pic in the post is bigger than when you click on it.. whats that all about..

ken

Spring Hill has a dismal reputation in the mail order nursery world. I would think that the northern California or the Bay area has more than a sufficient number of local independent retail nurseries where you could purchase actual peony plants, maybe even with flower buds - not just some semi-dormant tubers - in full flush.

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 As you might have noticed, Houzz is far from bug-free. My guess would be that my image has an unusual dimension, and their badly-written software therefore did not know how to shrink it down.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) I tried to call Spring Hill, and they actually transferred me to an Indian call center. Unbelievable that a nursery does that.

I browsed a few local garden centers, and they had two gallon Peony at $140/each. So I went for the roots at $20, and I guess I got what I paid for (but not really :) ).

Ken makes the point that the second bulb is not viable. What should I look for in a viable Peony bulb?

" What should I look for in a viable Peony bulb? "

At this time of year? A growing plant, not a dormant bundle of roots. Peonies are neither bulbs nor tubers but a herbaceous perennial with a fat, fleshy root system or crown. There should be distinct growth points or "eyes" showing and these need to be planted just under the soil surface - no deeper than an inch. I would not even consider a peony root without at least 3 eyes present. It would take several years for one of that size to even think about flowering.

Peonies are slow to develop but can last for decades

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Thank you for letting me know to look for at least three eyes. That's very valuable information.

And now I know a new word "Rhizome" corresponding to a plant that is grown from "subsurface stems". I had no idea about this type of plant until your post made me look further.

Rhizome IS a useful word to know if you are a gardener......but peonies don't have 'em :-)) Rhizomatous growth describes the way a plant might grow, extending their root system horizontally to generate new stem growth. Because of this type of growth, rhizomatous plants tend to be spreaders.......some very aggressively. Peonies are a clump forming plant, never getting very much larger over time, like many other perennials.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Well then this is confusing because most of the detailed Peony care articles online talk extensively about Peony rhizomes:

https://www.southernliving.com/garden/flowers/how-to-plant-peonies

The way a rhizome is defined online is as a subsurface stem, and the root system grows from that subsurface stem. That seems to be what is happening on these roots I purchased.

The above article also repeats your advice on eyes: "Make sure each rhizome has at least three eyes. Rhizomes with fewer eyes take a long time to bloom."

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) That is simply disappointing that someone can write such an extensive article on Peony care and not take the time to identify the root system correctly. I have saved your references.

Rhizome often gets used interchangeably with 'root'. I am often a bit vague myself so tend to use the much broader term 'geophyte' for any plant with underground storage systems (such as tubers, bulbs, corms, rhizomes etc.)