Yes, they are -- they're ironhorses! I've read accounts of some peonies living over 100 years. Incredible! What peonies did you plant? My favorite is the classic "Festiva Maxima"; she's what I have.

One of my favorites, and as porkchop notes very long lived. My grandmother had three colors, probably planted in the 1960s after they built their home. I have pieces of some of those plants. This bouquet from last year. Bowl of Beauty, Festiva Maxima (mislabeled as Duchesse de Nemours), Do Tell, and an unknown red from Grandma.

^^^ Those are amazing ^^^ wow

I planted a white one from Walmart, and I’ve forgotten what it is already, ugh. And I planted four Sarah Berhardt.

I love roses but have sort of given up on them. I see peony sort of like rose, but with pros and cons. Pros - beautiful blossoms, interesting foliage, disease and pest free as far as i can tell, long lived apparently, extremely hardy, deer resistant. Cons - don’t rebloom :( floppy. Lots more pros than cons!

Peonies are one of the few plants my suburban deer herd doesn't browse. The only con I've seen to peonies is the occasional late spring frost that destroys the buds.

A couple of years ago, I went deliberately looking for peonies with fewer petals so they don't flop as much.

Those plants are still young, so I don't know if I've succeeded.

I only have a handful of species (mascula, emodi, cambessedessii, delavayii lutea, veitchii and peregrina...and whilst I would agree that they are tough and hardy, it has been a long and frequently heartbreaking project to grow and place these plants where they thrive. A few of them have had to be relocated several times (therefore ensuring a further year or so of sulking) and the wait, from seed to flower, has been a lesson in patience and frustration... as much as a decade before a single bloom was produced. I would not care to start over...indeed, had I had an inkling of the faffing and anxious finger-nail gnawing, I really don't think I would have bothered. And after all that, they might only be in bloom for less than a fortnight...blink and you will miss them.

Yes fabulous plants especially for those of us with long frigid winters. They are rock solid. I have quite a few and make page wire cages for the floppers.

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY) which ones did you put in? I have had Early Scout for years and it never flops, I added Krinkled White and it is terrific. Surprisingly Karl Rosenfield needs no staking.

Suzy on your advice I have Miss America coming this year and I am really looking forward to it.

O, I think you will enjoy this lactiflora. peren.all. A very carefree paeony which didn't need staking and bloomed over a much longer period than the species. Mine now grows in my daugter's garden - a tiny but ridiculously pretty little cottage-y type garden with iris, columbine and roses...and looks far better than they ever did in my rambling mess.

It smells nice too.

The species peonies are generally more difficult to grow than the various garden hybrids.

I have lost P. mascula, P. delavayi, and one form of P. tenuifolia, but another soldiers on - I hope. Every year I'm not sure if it's going to come back!

This year I'm trying the somewhat famous Athena, which I think was the first 4 way peony hybrid. It should certainly have hybrid vigor!

Peren, interestingly enough Karl Rosenfield was one of them. I ran into Miss America at one of the box stores, so it came home with me. I thought there was another, but I apparently didn't write it down.

About 5 years ago, I bought a teeny tiny P. japonica that is finally beginning to look like something.