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The American Peony Society (APS) is a membership organization for people who grow, study, register, exhibit, or simply admire peonies. Its site at americanpeonysociety.org serves two audiences at once: anyone who wants free educational material on peony growing and care, and members who need registry access, publications, seed distribution, and event programs. If you only want to learn how to grow peonies or find a vendor, you can use the site without joining. If you want to register a new cultivar, order seeds from the distribution program, receive The Bulletin, or take part in conventions and shows, membership is the path.

What the APS actually provides

The site organizes its work into a few clear areas:

• Learn — growing and care, floral arranging, photography, hybridizing, propagating, and exhibiting.
• Explore — the Registry of Peony Cultivars, described as the official international database with more than 7,000 cultivars.
• Cultivars — registration overview, registration procedures, and new cultivar submission.
• Seed Program — a seed distribution program, seed donation, and a "Seeds for Education" component.
• Activities — news and events, an annual convention, auction, show results, and social media.
• Resources — vendor listings, bookstore, The Bulletin, peony registry, peony societies, reference garden program, advertising in The Bulletin, press kit, mentorship program, and vendor resources.
• About Us — committees, awards, leadership, bylaws, image and content use, and contact.

Peony types covered in the learning section include herbaceous, Itoh, woody, and species peonies, plus diseases and pests, genomic studies, the Bloom Date Project, hybridizing, and awards.

Free resources vs. member resources

The distinction matters: the educational content is the front door, and the registry, Bulletin, seed program, and events are the reasons people join.

The Peony Registry and cultivar database

The Registry of Peony Cultivars is the APS's flagship reference — an official international database with more than 7,000 cultivars. Use it when you need to:

• Confirm the correct name of a cultivar you bought or inherited.
• Check whether a name is already taken before submitting a new cultivar.
• Look up registration details for breeding or collection records.

Registration itself has its own sequence on the site: a registration overview, registration procedures, and a new cultivar submission utility. If your goal is to name and register a seedling, read the procedures before submitting, because the registry is the authority that makes a name official.

Membership: options, pricing, and renewal

The membership section covers:

• About — what membership involves.
• Options & Pricing — the available membership tiers and their cost.
• Purchase Memberships — the sign-up path.
• Gift Subscriptions — memberships given to someone else.
• Terms and Conditions — the rules attached to membership.
• Membership Renewal — how existing members continue.
• Donate — separate from dues.

The site lists "Options & Pricing" as a page, but the specific figures are not included in the material available here, so check that page directly for current rates rather than assuming a number. The same applies to whether any tier is free — the site presents membership as a purchase, with gift subscriptions and renewals as separate flows.

The Seed Distribution Program

The seed program is member-facing and time-bound. The site states the Seed Distribution Program is open for members and available through August 2026, with 2026 seed information posted. Note that "Order Seeds" is marked Closed in the navigation, so the ordering window is not always open even when the program page is live. Related pages include Seed Donation and Seeds for Education.

If seeds are your reason for joining, check the current status of the order window before you pay dues — a closed order page means you would be joining for the next cycle, not this one.

Events, shows, and mentorship

• Annual Convention — the site references an Annual Convention 2027 alongside the current convention listing.
• Auction and Show Results — results are published; participation runs through the society.
• Mentorship Program — pairs members with experienced growers.
• Reference Garden Program — gardens designated within the society's network.
• Awards — recognition within the peony community.

For a beginner, the mentorship program and convention are the two most concrete ways membership turns into hands-on help rather than just publications.

How to decide

Use the site without joining if you want growing instructions, a glossary of peony types, vendor listings, or general background on herbaceous, Itoh, woody, and species peonies.

Join if you need any of these: the Registry database and member portal, The Bulletin, the seed distribution program, mentorship, convention participation, or the ability to register a new cultivar.

Check before joining if your decision hinges on price or on the seed order window — both are page-specific details the site maintains separately from the general membership description.

To start, go to the membership section, open Options & Pricing, then Purchase Memberships. Existing members renew through Membership Renewal, and buyers who want to give access to someone else use Gift Subscriptions.

A peony cultivar is a named, cultivated selection—distinct from a wild species—and the fastest way to identify one is through the American Peony Society's Peony Registry, the official international database listing more than 7,000 peony cultivars. If you are choosing plants for a garden, start by deciding which of the four main cultivar groups fits your climate and space: herbaceous, Itoh, woody, or species peonies. The sections below explain how those groups differ, how cultivar names work, and how to narrow the registry down to plants worth buying.

Cultivar vs. species: what the words mean

A species peony is a naturally occurring wild plant, such as the various Paeonia species listed on the American Peony Society site under "Species Peonies." A cultivar is a plant selected or bred by people, given a registered name, and propagated to stay true to that name.

Two practical consequences follow:

• Cultivar names are written in single quotes, e.g. a named garden selection, while species names are written in italics without quotes.
• Because cultivars are propagated vegetatively (division, grafting), a purchased cultivar should match the registered description. Seed-grown plants, including those from the Society's Seed Distribution Program, do not.

The four main cultivar groups

The American Peony Society organizes its Learn section around four groups. They differ in how they grow, how they die back, and how much cold they need.

If you garden in a warm-winter climate, the herbaceous and Itoh groups are the ones most likely to disappoint, because they generally depend on a cold dormant period. Woody and some species peonies behave differently, but check the individual registry entry rather than assuming.

How cultivar names and registration work

The Society maintains a Registration Overview, Registration Procedures, and a New Cultivar Submission process, which together mean new cultivar names are formally registered rather than casually invented. For a buyer, this matters because:

• A registered name is a stable identifier. Two nurseries selling the same name should be selling the same plant.
• The Peony Registry is described by the Society as "The Official International Database with More Than 7,000 Peony Cultivars," so it is the reference point when a name is unfamiliar or spelled inconsistently.
• Registration does not by itself mean a cultivar is widely available or suited to your garden—it confirms identity, not performance.

How to choose a cultivar for your garden

Work through these filters in order, using registry entries and the Society's Learn pages (Peony Growing and Care, Hybridizing, Propagating) as your reference:

1. Confirm the group. Decide herbaceous, Itoh, woody, or species based on your winter climate and how much permanent structure you want in the border.
2. Check bloom timing. The Society runs a Bloom Date Project, which is the relevant resource if you want to sequence flowering or avoid a single short season.
3. Match color and form to the site. Registry records carry the descriptive detail; use them rather than catalog photos alone.
4. Check height and spread against the space you actually have, especially for woody peonies that keep their framework year-round.
5. Verify the name before buying. Cross-check the exact cultivar name in the registry, then look for it through the Society's Vendor Listings.
6. Ask about local performance. The Reference Garden Program and Peony Societies listings point to plantings and groups where you can see cultivars growing under conditions closer to yours.

Where to find reliable information and plants

• Peony Registry — the official cultivar database, the first stop for any name.
• Vendor Listings — nurseries and suppliers listed by the Society.
• Bookstore and The Bulletin — longer-form reference material and Society publications.
• Reference Garden Program — gardens where peonies are grown and observed.
• Peony Societies — regional groups, useful for climate-specific advice.
• Seed Distribution Program — note that seed orders are shown as closed in the current site listing, and seed-grown plants will not reproduce a cultivar's exact characteristics.

Some Society resources sit behind a member login or member portal, and membership is handled through an Options & Pricing page with separate purchase and gift subscription paths. Treat access terms as stated on those pages rather than assumed.

Common sticking points

• Buying an unregistered or mislabeled name. If it is not in the registry, you cannot verify what you are getting.
• Assuming all peonies need the same conditions. The four groups do not behave alike in winter or in establishment speed.
• Choosing from photos only. Bloom color shifts with light and stage; registry descriptions and reference gardens are more dependable.
• Expecting seed to reproduce a cultivar. It will not—use division or grafted stock for named plants.

Start with the registry to confirm the name, then use the group, bloom timing, and vendor listings to decide whether that cultivar belongs in your garden.

Peonies are long-lived perennials that reward a little patience at planting time with decades of bloom. The single most important rule: plant them in full sun with well-drained soil, and set the crown (the buds or "eyes" on the root) no more than about 1–2 inches below the soil surface. Plant too deep and you get lush leaves but few or no flowers. The American Peony Society (APS) organizes peonies into four main groups — herbaceous, Itoh, woody (tree), and species — and the care notes below apply across all of them, with the differences flagged where they matter.

Choosing a Site and Preparing the Soil

Peonies want:

• Sun: At least 6 hours of direct light per day. More sun means stronger stems and more blooms.
• Drainage: Water must never sit around the roots. If your soil is heavy clay, amend it or plant on a slight mound.
• Air movement: Good airflow reduces the fungal problems that peonies are prone to.
• Space: Give each plant room to mature — crowded peonies are harder to keep healthy.

Work compost or well-rotted organic matter into the planting area. Avoid planting where another peony has grown recently if you can, since soil-borne problems can linger.

When and How to Plant

Fall is the best time to plant peonies — this lets roots establish before winter. Spring planting works but usually costs you the first season's bloom.

For bare-root divisions:

1. Dig a hole wide enough to spread the roots without bending them.
2. Set the root so the highest eye sits 1–2 inches below the soil surface. This depth is the most common make-or-break detail.
3. Backfill, firm gently to remove air pockets, and water thoroughly.
4. Mulch lightly, but keep mulch away from the crown.

For potted plants, plant at the same depth the plant was growing in the pot. Water in well.

Ongoing Care

Watering

Water deeply and less often rather than shallowly and frequently. Newly planted peonies need consistent moisture in their first year; established plants are fairly drought-tolerant but bloom best with regular water during bud formation.

Fertilizing

A light application in early spring, as growth begins, is usually enough. Too much nitrogen pushes leaf growth at the expense of flowers. Follow the product label rather than guessing at rates.

Mulching and Support

Mulch moderates soil temperature and moisture but should not bury the crown. Large-flowered varieties often need a ring or stake to hold heavy blooms upright in wind and rain.

After Bloom

Deadhead spent flowers if you don't want seed, but leave the foliage intact. The leaves feed the root for next year's bloom. Cut herbaceous peonies back to the ground in late fall after frost. Woody (tree) peonies are different — don't cut them to the ground; they bloom on old wood, so prune only lightly and at the right time.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

For disease and pest identification, the APS maintains dedicated Diseases and Pests resources, and its Glossary helps you match symptoms to the right terms.

How the Peony Types Differ

• Herbaceous: Dies back to the ground each winter; cut back in fall.
• Itoh (intersectional): A cross between herbaceous and tree types; dies back like herbaceous but with tree-peony-like foliage and flowers.
• Woody (tree): Forms a permanent woody framework; prune minimally and protect from harsh winter exposure.
• Species: Wild-type peonies; requirements vary by species, so check the specific type before planting.

Where to Go Next

The American Peony Society is a practical hub for growers. Its Learn section covers growing and care, floral arranging, photography, hybridizing, propagating, and exhibiting. The Peony Registry is the official international database of more than 7,000 cultivars, useful for confirming exactly what you have or want to buy. The Vendor Listings and Reference Garden Program help you find plants and see mature specimens. The Seed Distribution Program is open to members (listed as available through August 2026), and membership options, pricing, and signup are handled through the APS Membership pages.

If you're new to Ahrefs and want to run your first SEO audit, the fastest path is: open Site Explorer, enter your target URL, review the Overview for a health snapshot, then dig into Organic Keywords, Top Pages, and Site Audit to find specific problems. From there, build a short prioritized to-do list instead of trying to fix everything at once.

This tutorial walks through that workflow using a realistic starting scenario, explains what the numbers mean, and shows how to turn findings into actions.

Before You Start: Pick a Narrow Scope

A common beginner mistake is auditing an entire large website on day one. The reports become overwhelming, and you can't tell which issues matter.

Instead, choose one of these starting points:

• A single important page (your homepage or a key product/service page)
• A small site (under ~50 pages, e.g., a personal blog or small business site)
• One section of a bigger site (e.g., /blog/)

For this tutorial, assume you're auditing a small business site with about 30 pages. The same steps scale up later.

You'll need an Ahrefs account to follow along. Ahrefs offers paid plans, and pricing and feature limits change over time, so check the current Pricing page for what's included in each tier before committing.

Step 1: Enter Your Target in Site Explorer

Site Explorer is Ahrefs' core tool for analyzing any website or URL.

1. Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
2. In the search box, paste your domain (e.g., example.com).
3. Choose the Exact URL or Domain mode depending on scope. For a full-site view, use Domain or Prefix; for a single page, use Exact URL.
4. Press Enter.

You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.

Reading the Overview Snapshot

Important caveat: Ahrefs' traffic and keyword numbers are estimates based on its own data. They won't match Google Search Console or your analytics exactly. Treat them as directional, not absolute.

Step 2: See What You Already Rank For

Go to Organic Keywords in the left sidebar. This shows queries where your site appears in search results.

Sort by Traffic (descending) to see which pages bring the most estimated visitors. Then look for:

• Keywords ranking in positions 4–15 — these are often the easiest wins. A small content or on-page improvement can push them onto page one.
• Keywords with high volume but low position — potential opportunities if the topic is relevant.
• Irrelevant keywords — if you rank for something off-topic, it may signal thin or mismatched content.

Write down 5–10 of the position 4–15 keywords. These become your first optimization targets.

Step 3: Find Your Best and Weakest Pages

Open Top Pages. This ranks your URLs by estimated organic traffic.

Look for two things:

1. Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
2. Pages with traffic but poor rankings — these may need on-page fixes (title, headings, internal links).

If a page gets zero traffic and targets a topic you care about, it's a candidate for a rewrite or consolidation.

Step 4: Run a Technical Site Audit

Now move to Site Audit. This crawls your site and flags technical and on-page issues.

1. Click Site Audit → New project.
2. Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
3. Start the crawl and wait for it to finish.

Once complete, you'll see a Health Score and a list of issues grouped by category.

Which Issues to Fix First

Not all issues are equal. Prioritize in this order:

Ignore low-impact warnings (like minor meta description length) until the big items are handled.

Step 5: Turn Findings Into a To-Do List

You now have raw data. Convert it into a short, actionable list. Example:

1. Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
2. Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
3. Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
4. Remove or update 2 thin pages with no traffic.

Keep the list to 5–10 items max for your first audit. Finishing a short list beats starting a long one.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Chasing every red flag. Site Audit flags many minor issues. Fix what affects rankings and users first.
• Trusting estimates as exact numbers. Ahrefs data is modeled, not measured from your analytics.
• Auditing a huge site too early. Start small to learn the interface.
• Ignoring search intent. A page can be technically perfect but still fail if it doesn't match what searchers want.
• Forgetting to re-crawl. After fixes, run Site Audit again to confirm improvements.

Where to Go Next

Once your first audit is done:

• Compare with competitors using Site Explorer's Competing Domains and Content Gap reports.
• Track keyword rankings over time with Rank Tracker.
• Explore backlink opportunities in the Backlinks and Link Intersect reports.
• Set up recurring Site Audit crawls so new issues surface automatically.

Your first audit isn't about perfection — it's about building a repeatable habit: enter a target, read the key reports, pick the highest-impact fixes, and act. Do that once a month and your site's health compounds.

Start by learning the four main groups of peonies—herbaceous, Itoh (intersectional), woody/tree, and species—because the group determines how you plant, prune, and expect the plant to behave. Then match that to your garden's sun and soil, learn a few identification terms, and use a cultivar registry to confirm names before you buy. The American Peony Society (APS) organizes its beginner material under Learn (About Peonies, Glossary, Herbaceous Peonies, Itoh Peonies, Woody Peonies, Species Peonies, Diseases and Pests, Hybridizing) and maintains the Peony Registry, described as the official international database with more than 7,000 peony cultivars.

The four peony groups and what each means in a garden

If you only want one plant to start with, a herbaceous peony is the most forgiving entry point. If you want a longer season and stronger stems, look at Itoh. If you want a shrub-like structure that persists through winter, choose woody.

Basic growing needs

• Sun: Peonies generally perform best in full sun; the APS Learn section covers growing and care as a dedicated topic, so treat light, soil, and planting depth as the first things to verify for your site.
• Soil: Well-drained soil matters more than richness. Standing water is a bigger risk than modest fertility.
• Planting depth: This is the most common beginner mistake. Planting too deep is a frequent cause of poor flowering, so follow the depth guidance for your specific group rather than guessing.
• Bloom timing: The APS runs a Bloom Date Project, which is useful if you want to sequence varieties so something is in flower across the season rather than all at once.

How to identify a peony you already have

1. Decide the group first: does the top growth die to the ground in winter (herbaceous/Itoh) or persist as woody stems (woody)?
2. Note flower form, color, and bloom date.
3. Look up the name in the Peony Registry, the APS's official international cultivar database.
4. Use the Glossary for the descriptive terms you'll meet in registry entries and nursery listings—form names and structural terms are defined there.
5. If you're registering or submitting something new, the APS separates Registration Overview, Registration Procedures, and New Cultivar Submission Utility—those are for people naming a plant, not for everyday identification.

Common problems and when to act

• Diseases and pests: The APS lists this as its own Learn topic. Botrytis and pest damage are the usual concerns; the practical rule is to act on discolored, collapsing, or chewed tissue early rather than waiting for it to spread.
• No flowers: Check planting depth and light before assuming disease.
• Flop and heavy heads: Consider an Itoh type or plan support for large-flowered herbaceous varieties.

Where to go next

• Learn hub (APS): Growing and care, floral arranging, photography, hybridizing, propagating, and exhibiting are all listed as Learn topics—pick the one matching your goal rather than reading everything.
• Peony Registry: Confirm cultivar names and check what's officially recorded.
• Peony Societies and Reference Garden Program: Find local groups and gardens where you can see plants growing before you buy.
• Vendor Listings and Bookstore: APS-listed sources for plants and further reading.
• Membership: The APS has an Options & Pricing page, Purchase Memberships, and Gift Subscriptions. The site also notes the Seed Distribution Program is open for members, with 2026 seed information available and ordering available through August 2026. Membership terms, pricing, and any login requirements are set out on those pages—check them directly rather than assuming access.

A practical first move: pick your group, confirm your sun and drainage, plant at the correct depth, and register the cultivar name in the Peony Registry so you know exactly what you're growing.