That first bloom of Sarah Bernhardt stops you mid-step — great clouds of soft pink petals, each flower carrying a rich, sweet fragrance that drifts across the garden on a warm May afternoon.
One of the most beloved herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Sarah Bernhardt’) ever introduced, this classic grows 24–36 inches tall and wide, forming a full, elegant clump that earns its place in the border year after year. Plant it in full sun to part sun in fertile, well-drained soil, and resist the urge to plant too deeply — the eyes should sit just an inch or two below the surface. Hardy in USDA Zones 3–8, it asks for very little: cut stems back after frost in fall, and let the plant do the rest. Clumps genuinely improve with age, flowering more freely and fully as roots establish over the years.
Sarah Bernhardt is equally at home in the garden and the vase, making it a natural choice if you’re searching for a long-lived, fragrant spring peony or a reliable cut-flower peony for Pacific Northwest gardens.
We ship bare root peonies in fall — the planting window that gives roots time to settle in before winter and sets up the strongest possible spring bloom.
🍂 Shipping & planting window
Peonies ship in fall (September–November) when fully dormant and bare root. This is the only window we ship.
Fall planting gives roots a full season to establish in warm soil before winter. Cold stratification triggers strong, healthy spring growth and reliable bloom production. Spring-shipped peonies experience root damage during active growth, transplant shock during their bloom cycle, and often lose an entire growing season.
📍 Local pickup available year-round in Bellevue, WA.
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