Welcome Blackbird!
You are about 3 hours West of me, almost neighbors.
Thanks for the tour through some of your gardens.. BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS! esp... THAT YELLOW ROSE! ... AMAZING!
Do you know what kind it is?
I grow peonies also. One thing I noticed ... many years we don't have many bees early, while the peonies are blooming. A few years back my peonies were covered with the busy buzzers. (I also neglected to deadhead) and I had tons of seeds pods on them.
I researched a bit about the seeds, collected a few, but never got around to trying them. However, I threw some of the seeds on the ground when I trimmed down the plants in fall. I was shocked! ...the next Spring I had 3 seedlings coming up!
I think this year was year 3, the seedlings had 6 leaves and were about 10" tall. They grow sooo slow... but I think it would still be a fun challenge to try it! Conditions may have been just right for mine to germinate over winter, but you may want give that a shot too.