Q: My local big-box store has peonies for sale. They are in bloom. They look healthy, but here is the problem: The peonies in my yard are only 2 or 3 inches out of the ground and won't be in bloom until Memorial Day. That means the ones in the store are blooming seven or eight weeks too early. It has other perennials in bloom that are also two months ahead of schedule. I want to get some more peonies, but I worry that they will also grow too early in my garden next year. Do you think that will happen?

A: There are thousands of varieties within the 25 to 40 species of peonies (depending on who is doing the counting), which are divided into four main types: woodland, herbaceous, tree and intersectional.

Herbaceous peonies are the common ones that everyone knows. Often planted in long rows as a summer hedge or a base to the bare stems of a shrub hedge, they can make a great accent plant when planted by themselves. They die to the ground every fall when they go dormant. They are probably the ones you have that bloom in late May.

Woodland peonies grow less than 2 feet tall. They grow best in shade. They bloom first, like many spring-blooming woodland flowers that get a head start before trees leaf out.

Woodland peonies bloom a month or two before herbaceous peonies. Is it possible that your local store is carrying woodland peonies? If so, then they should be blooming this early and you should plant some in your landscape.

It's much more likely, though, that since the store has other perennials in bloom, it is selling herbaceous peonies too early. I always like to buy long-lasting plants when they are displaying the characteristic I want. If you care what color the peony flower is, then you should buy the kind you like now while they are in bloom.

You probably should not plant them until the middle of May, and you will probably need to protect them from freezing weather in the meantime. Your existing plants are on the proper schedule for your area. The ones at the store were in unheated greenhouses over the winter, and then heated a few weeks ago so the plants would start to grow. This gives the stores something to sell, as a pot of soil with the promise of a peony doesn't sell as well.

If you can maintain and protect the plants until planting time, you should buy them. Many stores are notorious for not being able to keep up with watering or protecting plants from frost.

Once your peonies are in the ground, they will begin growing the same as your other peonies. If people buy and plant the blooming perennials now, you might expect them to always bloom two months too early, but they won't. They might not even survive until next year if they get frozen this spring.

Many people want to be the first ones on the block to have a new plant blooming in the garden, or the first ones with a tomato growing in the vegetable garden. I understand the urge to get out and do something, but early spring is a time to relax and enjoy not having to do anything. If you feel the urge to do something this early every spring, then plant some early spring flowering bulbs in your landscape. Also, remember the old nurseryman's adage: Plant early, and plant often.

Email questions to Jeff Rugg at [email protected]. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.