All 10 of my new peonies planted in 2013 in this particular bed were from the same source, where I have acquired many peonies over the years. All of the roots were big & healthy roots. In fact the seller and his wife drove down and delivered them in person... I think they wanted to see my garden, or just visit! We have excellent, well-drained soil, part of the best corn-growing land in Minnesota.
http://garden.org/i/s/hurray.g... The other 8 plants in the bed not only came up but most bloomed in 2014. I may have planted the the two of them too deep, and I did partially uncover them last summer and replant them more shallow, thinking they might still come up in 2015. Also, the remaining Asiatic lilies thrived last year as expected, and are just now emerging this year. 4 ft. away I had a LOT of self-seeded peonies that I dug up... 9 clumps, last fall. I kept one division from each clump for myself and replanted along the road where I had removed a row of Nanking cherry trees... all of those have already come up, plus about 20 more divisions that I gave to my sisters in North Dakota, and they have all come up. Anyway the fact that peonies are doing very well in this area of my yard is why I would like to plant two new ones (not yet selected) in the same spots. But does the fact that these 2 (America and Athena) were present although not growing, mean that I should fill in the 2 spots with... sedum, or daylilies, or who knows what, instead of a replacement peony?
Kansas which bloomed on 6/14/14, from same source and planted right next to Athena
Thanks very much for your inquiry on more background, possible reasons etc.
