Foxy Lady:
2 springs ago my gardener cut down my peonies with the lawn mower just as they were popping up out of the ground and they never came back

I was so sad because I had moved them from one house to another and had them almost 10 years.

ajtgirl: Are peonies easy to start? My neighbour has a bunch in her yard. They are sooo pretty when they are in bloom

Rose:
The peonies I had were ordered from a catalog as roots, and they were very slow growing. I actually didn't have blooms on them for at least 4 years. You can divide peopny roots from existing plants fairly easily and supposedly any pieces of the root will grow into a new plant. Maybe your neighbor could give you a couple of her roots?

They are easy to grow once they are established which can take a couple of years. I always feel that true perennials take 3 growing seasons to become mature.

ajtgirl:I agree with it taking a couple of years for perennials to get established. But I've always put it down to the grower raising the plants in the best possible conditions, to have the best plants for sale, and then when you get them home they are shocked into the real world. LOL

ajtgirl: Thats odd i cut mine down every year and never had a problem.I put them in the fall and they bloomed every year.I give them a good compost tea every fall and so far so good.

Foxy Lady:
I don't understand it either since the roots are what needs to survive for the plant to keep growing back every spring...but for some reason that gardener of mine, when he mowed them down in the early spring just as they were sprouting, killed 'em for sure. They never came back!

Have a great day...I am going to the Greenhouse!

ajtgirl: Maybe because they were just sprouting.I play it safe and put tomato cages around them so they don't get mowed down.

ajtgirl: maybe if he was little enough a gardener to mow down Your peonies, he was little enough a gardener to put some kind of vegetation killer on them as well? Peony-B-Gon™ or something?

plaintiger:

That must be the answer!
That knucklehead. Thanks PT...mystery solved.

ajtgirl: yes Ma'am. glad i could be of assistance.

so. bet You can't wait to hire *that* "gardener" again!