I've had pretty good luck buying roots through mail order. The advantage is that they often carry a more extensive variety that what is available at the local nurseries. Veseys carries about half a dozen red peony varieties, for example. Typically all plants are guaranteed to grow that season. Whatever doesn't make it is noted, then I call them with the list of failed starts and they issue a refund. It's never a problem. I love leafing through the catalogues during the cold winter months, picking out roots to order.
Not really. Some bloom a bit earlier or later but they all seem to last for the same duration.
For tough plants like peonies, I just plant the tuber in good soil with the top about two inches below the soil. New roots are watered regularly the first season, then they are often left to fend for themselves. It's near impossible to kill a peony.
Roots produce much smaller plants than a potted plant from a nursery so you may need to wait a few seasons for the plant to bloom; it depends on the type of perennial. Some bloom the first season. But mail order roots, especially when purchased on sale are less than half the price of potted nursery plants, so you get more for your buck if you're willing to wait for them to grow. It's a great way to landscape large areas.
More tender roots are soaked in warm water upon arrival and then potted up, watered and kept in a sheltered and shared location. Within a few weeks, the plants are up and when they are showing a good amount of growth, I'll plant them in their forever flower bed and will continue to water them for the rest of the season.
The mother tree lives in the village at the base of the mountain. I'll grab a picture of it. After the flowers, long seed pods form all over the tree. Northern Catalpa seeds are very easy to start. I have two of them. They grow quickly, form very interesting, narled trucks, have big leaves, attractive flowers followed by long seed pods. They are attractive trees all through the summer. The only negative is that they are one of the last trees to leaf out in the spring and they are always dropping spent flowers, bean pods and later in the fall, those big giant leaves. So they should be planted in a spot where their litter won't be an eyesore.
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