I would thank my husband and pot up the other root. Peony roots do not keep for long periods out of the garden, or pot of mix. If your peony grows in the pot, you can plant it in your garden when our winter rains start. When you plant them in the garden keep the buds for next years flower stems right up to the surface where you can see them, or they may not bloom. Of course depending on the size of the division you have they may not bloom for the next two years anyway. Al

Oh-great thank you! There are no signs of life thus far, but i'll plant up the other one and keep them watered. When should i expect to see signs of life? These were the kind that came in a bag packed with dirt from a unknown store.

All you can do is hope for the best. If the root dried out with no accompanying tuber, it may well be dead, but it is worth a try for a month or two. Al

This may be too late given it's been a month since this was posted, but you may want to check the one he planted as well. It's very likely that he planted it too deep, and you may be able to save it by planting it shallower. They like to be only 2 inches below the surface. I had one that I swore was dead because it never came up, and the next spring I decided to replant the bed with other perennials, and I had the whole thing dug up. I must have somehow brought up the root to the surface and didn't realize what it was. Within a few weeks, I noticed something growing that did not look like the stuff I had planted that spring and realized it was my peony! I also had it planted in a somewhat too shady spot, so once I realized it was growing, I carefully moved it to a sunnier bed. (planted in late summer/fall 2007, nothing in 2008, decided to replant bed in spring 2009)

It may take them a while to really establish themselves, and I think at first they do a lot of root growth and then start coming up.