I should have put Peony tips (above ) in bold a lot sooner! Most of your questions are answered there. And - because I LOVE peonies - there are several other peony posts. Easiest way to find them is to search for peony in the ” search” box on the right, near the top of the page.

As far as I know, all the first tier peony nurseries sell online. Two of my favorites are Klehm’s Song Sparrow and Adelman Peony Gardens .

Guess you could say it IS intentional: they intend to eat something tasty. The really tough part is that it’s not malicious; they don’t know they’re driving us crazy, which sort of makes it worse.

Sandi

may have answered your question. I’ve never seen it happen ( or heard of it before now) but that doesn’t mean much; squirrels will eat almost anything if you treasure it enough.

Monica,
Was the plant sold to you as a “red leafed peony?? I don’t think there are any. All peonies have reddish shots when they first come up in spring and some dark flowered, dark-leafed types can make a good sized red bush before they start turning green. If what you bought was one of those, that new foliage would be very tender, easily burnt by sun and wind. If you can nurse it along this first summer so it gets a chance to put out some roots, it may well do better next year.

Or it may not. Peonies prefer to be planted in fall, and that’s when specialists ship their wares, so if this one never takes hold you can still replace it this year.

Peony buds are often blasted by botrytis or so damaged by late frost that although they appear, they cannot swell. But obvious chomping is pretty rare. Please tell us more about the offender’s dining habits - are we talking big bites out? holes bored into the tips? damage that cannot be seen until you cut the bud open?

I confess myself intrigued and look forward to your description!