I've been worried a bit about it too, but I think as long as they are still dormant, and it stays cool enough, they should be fine.

It's the spring rains that I worry more about once they start growing because I lost some of my Japanese tree peonies last spring.

As long as the water is draining away your roots should be fine. Sitting in puddles of water would be bad, though!

It finally stops raining. What I worry about is the saturation level of the soil. The soil drains but because it is so saturated, it forms puddles of water above the bed when it rains hard. This tells me that the bed is overly saturated and very wet. Hybrid peonies roots do not like it wet. I wonder if I should cover them with plastic next time rain is in the forecast.

Tenting over them might not be a bad idea if you're having a lot of rain.

In my experience with potted peonies under tarps, they usually come out pretty strong out of a tarp as long as you know when to uncover them.

Here's how they looked for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: taking plants out of tarps

Been pretty wet here too, and record cold, like lots of others I know. I'm not worried about my mature plants, but I got several new peonies last year & very worried about them. I mulched them a bit, but wasn't expecting this kind of weather. Still, they came from a colder zone than here, they will probably be fine. I'm just a nervous plant mom I guess.

I went out to dig up some hybrid peonies yesterday. The bed was muddy and wet. I moved some of them. This is not a good sign as hybrid peonies are very susceptible to crown rot. I think that I am going to lose some peonies this year. :( And it is raining again!

This post was edited by kousa on Tue, Jan 14, 14 at 9:12

I hope your peonies come through ok kousa. I walked out in the yard this afternoon, it was really a lovely day. Didn't even need a jacket. The yard was very squishy though, my feet were sinking a bit even in the grass. The place I planted my new peonies is on a slope, which should help. But it has some clay soil. I did amend it some with compost when I planted, hopefully they will be ok. I'm not sure how long the varieties I got have been around, I looked up photos when I got them, but no other info. I have several other peonies that have been in the ground several years, & have weathered just fine, despite a few really wet springs. I know those are old varieties that have been around for years though.

If they were boggy it's surely a good thing you replanted, Kousa. I hope they make it through okay.