Dormant peonies do get stepped on, even when you know they are there. I try to avoid it by leaving the cut stems from last year tall enough to see despite the spring weed growth. Stimulation has never been noticed to result, but would be welcome. Al

Thought I'd update. Don't know if this peony is particularly healthy or I've discovered some moronic peony growth secret. This particular peony grew over twice as fast as any of the three new peonies planted last year. The other two were planted in mid-summer and this one was planted in early fall, same grower and same nursery. I thought I'd killed it, but it clearly is an overachiever. The stepped-on peony was Frances Ortegot and the other two were Sarah Bernhardt and Duchess De'Nemuers (sp?). I don't plan on stepping on all of them and testing my theory, though.

The two other variables ie different planting time and different cultivar are probably more likely the reason for the difference in growth rate, I should think.