Sometimes I think I must be crazy, or just a very ardent and hopeful gardener! I live in coastal Southern California in San Juan Capistrano, and have purchased at great cost AT LEAST 30 peony roots for the gardener to plant. I also bought big pots, but not enough for each one of them, so I plan on putting more than one in some pots. I have some Itohs within the 30, and have higher hopes for them. Anyway, can anyone give me some advice? I don't have much room left in the garden, but plan on sacrificing the dahlia bed to peonies, with the Itohs planted in the soil, and the others in the pots. I read that putting ice cubes once a week on the soil will suffice for a winter freeze. Please advise. Thank you ever so much in advance for any advice.
Joyce Brown

I'm north of you in OC. I have exactly one Itoh and two herbaceous peonies bloomed this year, one is a single. I think from what I read, plant the eyes above ground, the air temperature could be around 45 degree.
Edit to add, I plant all of my peonies on the ground.
Pictures of the ones I just planted recently and they have buds.

Joyce, there is an old article written by Don Hollingsworth that talks about growing peonies in hot zones, just google Don Hollingsworth growing peonies in the south and it should come up. I think it's housed on the Hollingsworth Peonies website which was down for the year the last time I tried to find it. Anyway, the article was based on conversations Don had with a peony grower in zone 10 who grew and had flower many peonies that popular wisdom said would fail, claimed the trick was to cut back the foliage to trick the plants into dormancy in the fall.
As for potted peonies, they will struggle in full sun in the summer, at least until they're more established. I'd place them where they'll get the best chill in the winter and then move them if necessary to get morning sun in the spring until bloom and maybe even more shade during the summer to keep the roots from overheating.

I place all of herbaceous peonies in the shade, when they open they will last longer. But you can check on a poster "SoilsandUp", she used to post here but not anymore, she lives in Sacramento, which is much hotter than OC, but probably colder in the winter, she has grown successfully 17 herbaceous type of peonies. She said she put her peonies under shade of some sort. I have some of her posts save for that reason.