How deep did you plant them?

Diann
IA Z5a

Good question. I don't recall. I'm pretty sure that what I did was plant them at the depth that the tag on the purchased peony (Karl Rosenfeld, I think) advised - but we do have clay here, and maybe I needed to adjust for that, even though I amended where I planted them.

A lot of times a peony will either not bloom, or bloom just a little the first year after transplanting. If you're pretty sure you planted them correctly, wait and see what they do next spring. Usually by the third year, they're blooming at full capacity.
The fungus may be boytritis (sp?)-also not unheard of in newly transplanted peonies. Cut them back and remove all the foliage from the bed.
I've got lots of peonies in some pretty mean clay, and they do just fine.