The few times I've seen species of Paeonia I've been enchanted but always thought where I live in Northern California I wouldn't be able to grow them. Then I saw one in a garden in South Australia where I was told it bloomed before the summer heat set in and then remained dormant in summer. Early in the history of this list I organized Topics of the Week for almost 2 and a half years and Jim Waddick who is an expert on this genus and who has written a book about it was kind enough to provide wonderful introductions. <http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…> <http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/… > He encouraged me to try some of the Mediterranean species and a kind member of this list shared seed. Several people provided suggestions for growing it from seed. So in January 2005 I planted seeds. A year later they started germinating. After several years of growth I planted a number of plants in the ground, hoping that this would be one genus I wouldn't have to grow in containers. After their dormancy none of them ever came back. I had hedged my bets however and still had a few in containers. Although I lost some of these as well, others have come back each year and in the last month have started shooting out once again. In 2010 the first bloomed, a Paeonia mascula with Sicilian origins. I was thrilled. Unlike Jim McKenney, I live in a climate not so hot in summer, so the flowers lasted longer for me than they do for him. If any of you wrote about it, I didn't remember, that it isn't just the flowers that make this plant so fun to grow. It's the fruit and the seeds. So it was months of enjoyment watching the pods form and eventually split and then seeing the seeds. I've added a series of photos to the wiki: <http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…> I don't know if any of my plants will bloom again, but this once gave me enormous pleasure and without the helpful generous people of this list it is unlikely to have happened. I am very grateful. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers