last update January 2009
This is an Orphan page related to, but not linked into, the website of El Summit Perennials Nursery; the Nursery deals in grown plants, while this page is expressly meant to facilitate the sale of peony seeds collected from the nursery's plants.
Available only until the end of May. A fresh list will be posted in fall.
This is the first year in which I have Peony seed for sale through mail order. They are sold in packets of 5 seeds at 2 to 5 dollars depending on type; postage (including bubble envelope) costs $4 per order within Canada and $6 to elsewhere. Currency: Canadian or US dollars please; cheque or postal money order. If you are ordering from outside of Canada it is your responsibility to be aware of and comply with your country's rules and regs regarding importing seeds. Most countries are fairly straightforward but the USA is problematic (perhaps more than any other country).
For general information about growing peonies from seed, read on... or if you don't need that click here to jump directly to the price and availability list.
Growing Peonies From Seed
Peonies have an extended germination cycle, so it takes a few years to see a leaf appear where a seed was planted. They are also relatively slow to mature, so several years can pass between the sighting of the first leaf and the development of the first flower bud.
I find peonies are usually quite easy to start from seed. The method I use is to pot them up on receipt, using a 1 gallon pot to start up to about 10 seeds, and with a mix of garden soil, a bit of sand, and some compost; plant the seeds about 1 or 2 cm deep. I then water it well, put it in a plastic bag (just so I don't have to water it as often), and park it in an unheated part of the house (someplace that will get to a temperature close to freezing in the winter; the idea is just to prevent winter winds from supercooling the pot which might kill the seeds. An unheated garage would be good too). Thereafter I just have to check it occasionally for moisture, watering as necessary, for about a year and a half; in the second spring I take off the bag and bring the pot outside and hopefully by summer a few leafs will pop up. I usually leave the seedlings in the pot for a couple of years, put they can be repotted or planted out in the garden as early as autumn of the year their leafs first showed.
I also have equal success with just planting the seeds in a row or an area in a cultivated section of a flowerbed, but remember to mark the area and leave it be (except for watering and hand-weeding: use no tools) until peony leafs show up. However, this may not work for all species in colder climates.
For gardeners experienced with germinating seeds requiring cycles, the main thing to know about peonies is that they can be started either at room temperature or at a cold temperature; a radicle (rootlet) will usually develop during the first warm cycle, after which a cold cycle is required before the first leaf will emerge in the second warm cycle. (Having said that, I have personal experience with the odd seed staying dormant through 5 years of weather before finally germinating.) Some folks try to accelerate the germination process by using a fridge to provide 3-month cold cycles and a window sill indoors to provide a 3-month warm cycle; my personal experience with this is that too often I would have emerging leafs in late summer or early fall, and the leafs would be looking for longer daylight hours and stronger sunlight than they were getting: weak and failing seedlings were the result with a tendency to damp-off which did not happen with seeds emerging more seasonably, so I now avoid artificial/ unseasonable cold and warm regimes and let nature do the work for me.
About the Seeds
Seeds are fresh, collected this fall. They'll be sent out in bubblepack envelopes.
All are of garden origin, open-pollinated. That means that there is some chance of hybridization with other peony species having occured. Some species are more likely to hybridize than others are. In addition to the possibility of hybrids, species often have a natural range of flower colours or plant forms which may be expressed in a following generation.
Open-pollinated means that insects (all kinds of bees are enthusiastic visitors to peony flowers, as are several kinds of flies and I don't know what all else) move the pollen about. Much of it goes from the anthers to the stigma of the same plant while the bee rolls around in it in ecstacy or while exiting the flower, but a lot of it gets transported to the flowers the insect visits next, or later on. So it's kind of random but is more likely between nearby plants than between plants at some distance from each other.
Hybrids
The results of hybridization can be interesting and often garden-worthy but the fact and effect of hybridization may not be apparent until the plant flowers, which does take awhile! Some of the properties affected by hybridizing are: flower colour, leaf form, plant hardiness (often an improvement), plant vigour (usually an improvement), period of bloom (the hybrid may bloom earlier than either of the parent species, or may bloom later than either, or somewhere between, or may bloom at the same time as one of the parents) etc.
For additional information on most of the listed species please see the Peonies page of my main website (link will open in a new window)
These are 1 generation removed from seed collected from the wilds of Mongolia by Halda. Large fragrant single flowers, multiple buds per strong stem; parent plants are pale pink, mid pink, white, magenta/red and grown here clustered together but removed from any other lactifloras; expect flowers mostly in almost any shade of pink. Late bloom period. Not so shade-tolerant. Glossy deep green well-divided leafs. Most of the fluffy double garden peonies are the result of generations of selection of lactiflora; the single-flowered forms are beautiful in their simplicity, and have stems strong enough to hold the flowers upright regardless of the weather.
photos: ...flower ...plant ...emerging leaf... another ...carpel... seed ...
large bright magenta flowers, single form, fairly early. Good shade tolerance. Round-lobed leafs; good fall show from the seed pods.
photos: ...flower ...plant...carpel... seed ...
large mid to pale yellow flowers, single form, fairly early. Good shade tolerance. Round-lobed leafs often with a bluish tinge; good fall show from the seed pods. These seeds are from a few plants with good colour; most from plants separate from the rest of the early peonies, but some from a plant in close proximity to other species in concurrent bloom. Flowers should mainly be yellow but expect a significant percentage of hybrids possibly some in apricot/peach tones or maybe even magenta.
photos: ...flower ...plant ... another...carpel ... seed show ....
large pale yellow flowers holding in a bowl shape, single form, fairly early. Good shade tolerance. Roundish-lobed pointy leafs of lush green; good fall show from the seed pods.
photos: ...flower ...plant ... another...carpel ... seed show ...
large ivory flowers holding in a bowl shape, single form, a bit after steveniana which it is similar to but larger. Good shade tolerance. Roundish-lobed pointy leafs of lush green; good fall show from the seed pods.
soft pink flowers, single form, fairly early. One of the few species with multiple buds per stem. Good shade tolerance. Moderately finely divided leafs. Woodwardii is putatively a dwarf variant in the wild but in gardens may not be. The parent plant of this seed lot is about 2ft tall, about a foot shorter than my normal veitchii's