Some stems seem to come from below the plants. Leave as is for now. The mooshy ones may not live but since your dog dug them up and you don't know how they will do just mention that to you MIL. No need to tell her they might have been planted wrong.

Do ask her to help you make the decision on what to purchase next because one peony seems to lead to peonies. That way you can learn about the various sources she may use and also show her a preference of colors and leaf types. You can always tell her enough for now until you have more time to take care of the plants. If she gardens she should understand and accept.

I see growth! So nearly 20 days later I see the peonies growing...which means I didn't kill them yet!

Hooray. Now you will have the courage to plant other things that you were afraid that you could mess up. Also you can point at the peonies and beam at your mother in law rather than worrying.

Advice to a gardener is that although we all want perfection, we learn more from our accidents than we ever would from doing what is considered correct all of the time.

I have done similar things and somehow all of my plants seem to do fine. :) I move my plants all over the place scouting out the best location and have had moments when I did the same thing you did- the a-ha moment, gardening in the dark to fix the mistake. Maifleur, you are one great cheerleader, and I mean that in the BEST possible way- wish I would have had someone like you to give me advice when I first started gardening!

How do you think I got the advice? There are many errors in the past but I have found different methods of doing things by just trying. Of course when I was younger I had to wait until the 2 inch potted plants were two for a $1.00 just to experiment.

My hubby used to loose his cool when I carried a plant around with me to find the perfect spot.

Even if the receiver thinks you are bonkers everyone that has done anything for a time has litte bits of wierd information that should be passed on. Now if I could only find out if the Victorian's used green or woody cuttings to start new tree peonies. Sighhh.

Gardening is a learning experience for everyone. What has slowed my learning is having more than one problem at a time, and assuming that correcting one mistake would solve the problem. With much of gardening it takes months to find out you have done something wrong. Al

thanks everyone!!!

any chance I'll get a flower this year or should I just count my blessings that i didn't kill them?