Dear All, It seems that this topic of the week has generated a lot of interest. When we were in the UK we saw so many Peonies in gardens and I found them all beautiful. Bob took a number of very nice pictures, but didn't note what they were so I have no idea whether they were hybrids or species. David and Pat Victor have a large number in their private garden and we enjoyed them very much. I'd really like to try a couple of the Mediterranean ones in my garden. We get below freezing a number of times a year, but not a lot below most of the time and no one grows them around here. I don't know whether that is because people have tried them and failed or not tried them assuming we don't have enough winter chill. My soil is on the acidic side however so that too could make it difficult. And our summers are more moderate than hot and Jim made it sound like the Mediterranean one like hot summers. Jane has mentioned one seed source. Are there others? What is the trick to growing them from seed? Does the seed need to be fresh? Do you send Paeonia seed to the NARGS seed exchange Jane of the ones you grow? We visited Trevor Nottle's garden near Adelaide when on a botanical trip to two of the Mediterranean parts of Australia (South Australia and Victoria) and he had some really nice ones blooming that he had grown from seed. He told as (if I remember correctly since it was quite awhile now) that in his very hot summer climate the trick was to grow ones from seed that would flower early and then sit out the summer. Jane, since you have seen my garden and grow a number successfully, do you have any suggestions for species I could try? I'd love to see Jay's picture and find it fascinating he has gotten essentially two plants for one. Do you any of you experts think you could identify any of Bob's pictures if I put them on the wiki? Mary Sue