Hi, I ordered HB last year and when I got home last night I noticed that stems are crooked. I decided against ordering Carol as it has this crooked stems problem, but did not hear anything against HB. Looking on online pics does not show this problem. Did any of you experience this particular trend with HB?

Yes, I have an HB that has crooked stems. However, it is in a group 9 peonies that all seem to have crooked stems. I assumed it had something to do with the location.

Good to know. I wonder if stems will improve with maturity of the plant. Remember recommendations not to place HB in front ( and I did not ), but not sure if it was especially related to the young plants....
Frank, what do you mean by group 9?

AlexUnder said:Good to know. I wonder if stems will improve with maturity of the plant. Remember recommendations not to place HB in front ( and I did not ), but not sure if it was especially related to the young plants....
Frank, what do you mean by group 9?

@AlexUnder, in front of what?

row, front vs centre vs back

I've heard some theories that the crooked stems on what should be fairly strong plants is caused by lack of moisture up the stems to the flowers--typically when it gets really hot for a few days. Might be worth adding some shade and some type of light mulch, away from the stems, of course, to keep them a bit cooler to experiment.....my Henry is in far too much shade, will probably never bloom unless I get it moved. Doesn't have crooked stems, though, but far too small because of the crappy location to be used as evidence!

typo, a group of 9 peonies (same location).

Here are 2 more from that location: 'Kansas' (Left) and 'The Mackinac Grand'

Liz, thanks for your theory and I guess Frank's pictures backs it up. In the future I will pay more attention to the moisture and mulch. Have no power over the hot weather Will consider moving it to different location in a few years time if it does not work. Also noticed that my Etched Salmon is some kind of spreading their stems in the dryer location due to the tree overhanging branches.

I also sometimes get crooked stems from Henry Bockstoce but only years when the soil is really wet from rains during the spring months of growths before bloom. THe wetter it gets, the worse the condition is for HB as well as some other hybrid red peonies. I don't see crooked stems on other colored peonies yet. In my case, i think that when there is a lot of rain, it makes the fertilizer in the soil esp nitrogen more available to the peony and the nitrogen causes rapid growth which the plant cannot keep up in providing moisture for the rapid growth like Liz said and thus result in crooked stems.

Interesting... My Henry B. is still young (planted in spring 2016), but it is very tall and looks strong, I left 2 buds for this season and one stem is crooked. It is in front.

My 'Kansas' had crooked stems with the only one having a nice bud was broken down by an animal. Very poor performance this year but the Spring weather was strange compared to normal.

Liz, you have to get HB to a sunny site. The blooms are absolutely stunning. My two best performers for my new roots were HB (double) and Maestro (Bomb). Nothing else compares to these two.

I just noticed yesterday that a couple of Red Charms stems growing next to HB are also not straight, so it has to be location (sun, moisture ) or may be that it was transplanted last year. I remember RC less crooked previously.

I haven't had this issue affecting my Red Charm yet. Do you fertilize your peonies with a high nitrogen fertilizer?

I really am a newbie at all things gardening, and especially peonies, but just wondering if you had any erratic weather while they were growing these stems? Would unexpected and non-typical timing of freezes affect something like that?

Karen, I transplanted most of my peonies ( some- divided, some I just received from Mano ) last year and moved in last winter. As far as I can understand it was a vegetable patch for previous owners. I do not have a clue what was used here, but because they were Italians and grandma was looking after the patch I do not think there is something completely weird. Still can not rule out some fertilizer. Same patch, different location - no problems with stems... I certainty applied bulb fertilizer to most of my peonies, but could have missed one of two.
Joanna, I was away for 1.5 months so no clue about the weather.
Still keep my fingers crossed as there are buds on Bartzella, Florence Nicholls and Etched Salmon. I had one flower open for me on Smith Family Yellow, but it did last only 2 days because of the rain.

Just to close the issue - I give supplemental water to HB during extensive growing time before blooming if there are not enough rains and stop doing it just before they are opening. Did not have any crooked stems in the last few years. May be once or twice a week for 2-3 weeks before blooming. May be mulching would work as well, but I am not using it much in borders because I am inter-planting and every inch counts.

Just to muddy the waters so-to-speak Alex I posted comments about HB a long time ago as this cv was the only one I have ever dug up and thrown away It was growing in the same big area as many other cvs which never exhibited the twisted stems (or failure to open properly) so I personally don't feel it has anything to do with growing conditions and everything to do with its genetic makeup (likely a failure in the tc process).

Don't know how many of you are on FB but Harvey from Hidden Springs gave a very good explanation for the crooked stems, think it was last spring? Unscientific summary of his comment was that it's the heat. The plant can't get moisture up the stems fast enough to replenish the buds and it causes the stems to bend. Should be able to limit it by shading them during hot periods before the blooms open.

I went back and found that conversation on FB, here's what Harvey said:
"Carol ones that consistently. It is caused by expansion of the flower bud during high temperatures and the plant can not supply enough water so it is pulled from the stem causing it to wilt. Overnight when the temperatures cool down the cells in the stem draw more water from the roots and recover but are unable to straighten as the cell walls have already lignified. This can happen to other cut flower crops during rapid expansion of the stems and flower buds during rapid warm up events after being relatively cool."
The discussion was specifically about Diana Parks, Command Performance and Henry Bockstoce were mentioned as well as Carol in Harvey's comment.