Dear All; I have briefly spoken up about accepting peonies into our geophytic company. They certainly has the life style and structure of most fall planted hardy bulbs. I recently heard of person who managed to grow P. corsica from seed to bloom in only 2 years. I'm not sure if that was seed in summer of year 1 and bloom in spring of year 3 or seedling in spring of year 1 and bloom in spring of year 3. Probably the latter, but still extraordinarily fast. I have my first bloom on P. mlokosewitschii yesterday and more species are full of buds.. I think all the species have consideration above and beyond the fleeting explosion of gorgeous flowers. There is a range of size and form from the smallest rock garden types (a foot or even less) to near shrubs over 4 feet tall (and not including the woody species). Foliage can range from needle like and ferny to large, rounded oval and rough with many variables in between. This also gives me an opportunity to mention the new book (The Genus Paeonia) by the eminent Czech botanist Josef Halda with help from me (Timber Press) that is just out and available from all the usual sources. More details than most casual growers will ever need. Some incredible color plates and line drawings that alone are worth the price. I'm leaving Thursday am to lead a group of intrepid travellers to the annual tree peony festivals in NE China. We're hoping to see hundreds of thousands of tree peonies in bloom. Our group includes some well known names of peony growers from the US, Canada, Germany, Australia and Denmark. And more to go. Best and thanks Jane. Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 E-fax 419-781-8594 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +