A friend of mine dug up and gave away a couple dozen peony plants this spring and I managed to scavenge some of the wholes and pull out some pretty large chunks of the roots that got left behind. They range from 5 to 12 or more inches long.

My question: should these roots be planted vertically or horizontally? Or will they just never come back to life no matter what?

In late April I dug up a trench in my yard, added lots of compost, and planted the roots vertically about 3 feet apart from one another. So far, nothing has come up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!