My peony budded very promisingly last year but fell victim to what I'm pretty sure must have been botrytis, judging by descriptions I found on the internet. The one flower that actually opened partway was mushy and brown. I ended up cutting the whole thing down and hoping for better luck next time.

Do I need to do anything in particular to keep the botrytis from recurring? The plant is back this year and looking good so far...several buds, leaves seem to be flattening out (hope their crinkliness was just due to being new and isn't a problem), everything is nice and green. The plant is probably in more shade and heavier soil than would be ideal, but it's not crowded and is in a breezy location.

Any insight much appreciated!

It lives in leaf litter and compost. Remove any leaves at the first sign of disease, like brown spots. Throw them in the trash, and don't leave them around or compost them yourself. Clean up throughly in the fall. I don't compost my peony plants even in the fall because they are rather prone to botrytis and I am afraid of spreading it, but that may be overkill. Good air circulation is helpful; I have to stake my larger plants so they are fairly tightly bunched together and that is probably part of the problem that I have. Good luck!