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Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,593
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

They are expensive and so in demand so they run out fast.

I found some beautiful ones today at Harris Teeter- 3 stems one white, one pink and one dark pink for $4! They are my daughters favorites so I was so happy to find them.

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Trusted Contributor
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Registered: ‎02-19-2015

Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@Carmie 

I have tried to grow them out here but, you are correct, we don't get freezing temperatures where we are and that, combined with the dry climate, is not favorable to peonies.

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@FoxxeeThank you for this article! This explains so much! I thank the folks in North Carolina, where most of the peony farms are apparently located. 

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎09-22-2010

Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

I live in the PNW and have four pink peony bushes in my backyard.  Nothing smells better in the house then a bouquet of peonies out of the garden.  I was at Costco today and on a whim picked up two new peonies.  Now I have to decide where to plant them.  My lilacs are blooming now so tomorrow morning I am picking a big bouquet for the living room. 

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@x Hedge 

 

WOW!!

Your peonies are spectacular! I thank you for posting these beauties!!! I adore those fluffy petals and the fuschia-colored ones are so saturated. You are so lucky!

 

Both you and @millieshops mention peony bushes that have been around for years...that means they really are hearty plants, which is what @Carmie and @JustJazzmom said. I WISH our climate was better-suited to growing them. 

 

@JustJazzmomYou mention the pink Hawaiian coral peonies - I believe that is what I saw as a cut flower at Trader Joe's - it was a bright, stunning orangey coral color with lots of yellow stamins in the center. Absolutely beautiful! Each stem was about $15.00, and they sold out in ONE DAY. @ahoymate Talk about supply and demand! 

 

@millieshopsYes, ants love peonies, not sure if it is their scent that attracts them.

What is a SILK PEONY please? I have never heard of them.

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@DiAnneA bouquet of lilacs and peonies!?!?! BE STILL MY HEART!!! Those are my absolute two favorite flowers. Very jealous! They will make your whole house smell scrumptious. Enjoy!!!!!

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

[ Edited ]

@on the bayI had to google Harris Teeter...I had never heard of it, but it sounds like you are in the Carolinas. According to the article @Foxxee posted, most of the country's peonies come from farms in North and South Carolina!! (That explains why you paid $4 for three stems and I paid $16.99 for ONE stem with three buds. It is the transportation costs, I am pretty certain...)

Frankly, I rarely buy cut flowers except during peony season, when I allow myself to endulge because, just like your daughter, they are my favorite flower. They really are a little miracle on a stem...all those petals!

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@millieshopsI think by SILK PEONIES, you mean artificial stems? I see some on Michael's website (the craft store), and they look absolutely real. Hmmmm....that may be the way to go since their availability is so limited and they are so expensive as cut flowers.

 

I am reminded of Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," when I think of peonies:

 

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

 

 

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-14-2010

Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

When my parents moved into their new house in 1951 (I was 6 months old). They planted several peony bushes. So growing up I would admire the beautiful flowers. After they passed I sold their house. The peony bushes were still going strong and they had grown quite a bit. I wished I could take a bush with me but I didn't.

 

I had ordered what I thought was a peony bush when we bought our house. I got a stalk. So I dutifully planted it and every year it gets bigger with more blooms than the year before. I can't believe how well it turned out.

 

And we have frost where I live. I am right outside Philadelphia. 

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Re: Why Are Peonies So Costly?

@MarnieRez3 -

I think this is the first year I have ever had the luck to see them so inexpensive. Every year I've looked for them or gotten them, they have been very high, either online or in the store.

What I haven't been able to find are peony bulbs. Maybe I was looking at the wrong time. I'm inspired by all this talk of peonies to look into that! Or I was hoping to get a peony plant for my daughter.

I see Lowes has them and they are deer, drought and rabbit resistant!

They are so lush and beautiful aren't they! 

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"