I've never heard of pinching back buds. I have a young 3 year old peony which came up with a huge number of flowers this 3rd year. Thank goodness because I got this plant on those end of season type sales. it looked like it was dying.. so I took pity on it. Now it rewards me with a terrific spray of flowers. I also purchased a brand new peony as a root earlier this year. To my surprise it actually gave me a bud this year - and it's beautiful. I am looking foward to it's next show. ianna

Thanks for replying back. I feel less concerned now as your thoughts are very logical. The plant sent up about six stems and lots of leaves and that seems like a lot of work for a young peony. I know I'll be checking it out next spring, hoping for buds! Lord willin'.

That's what I have always thought before, but when I look at grafted tree peonies, I'm finding that the underground part of the branch gradually changes its cell structure to look more like a tuber that can hold energy and generate roots. Too bad I don't have any dormant buds to try out, but I believe the base of a bud may have the same properties as a branch. I believe it's a possibility, and the one advantage I can see with this type of a division if it is possible with tree peonies is a guaranteed species as opposed to seeds which can have variation. I plan on trying it out with a few sample TP buds.

We are always behind because of the ocean. I always say we’re two weeks behind, but I don’t know where I came up with that figure. I’m actually not sure. I should actually try to really chart it out on the New England forum. Our spring/summer will come later, but winter will come later, too. In fall the warmer ocean beats back the cold weather. On that same note, living here has really emphasized how little your zone tells you. My same zone exists in the mountains of the Southeast and across the middle of Kansas, and in summer those places are hot hot hot and humid humid humid. They also have a much longer summer. Our average high in July and August are in the 70’s, and people say we do have four seasons here: Fall, Winter, Spring, and July 4th. Summer is fleeting! The variations in the zone didn’t really hit home until I moved here. We had an uncooperative April. Everything in our area is a bit late. Forsythias were at least two weeks late this year and in other places of New England.