Were the leaves tree peony leaves or herbaceous. To me it sounds like the herbaceous roots have taken over unless the stems that you defoliated are now woody?

Do you have pictures of it from last spring and prior years? 10 stems is a lot for a tree peony to put out. I've had a tree peony not come up from the woody stock when we had a fairly late, bad freeze, and it did put up new stems so it certainly can happen. Mine had 2 or 3 new stems that are now woody since it's been a few years. Mine wasn't as old as yours, that could be the difference in the number of stems, maybe? If you're sure it was tree peony foliage I'd just fertilize it with a high potash organic bulb/flower mix and wait until the spring. Maybe the 10 new stems were too much new growth to support blooms as well. Might just be bigger and better than ever next spring!

Lizbest, I wouldn't complain about bigger and better! I always have good intentions to take garden photos, but, I don't have any. I can almost say for certain the new stems are woody, but I will check tomorrow before I answer that question. Off the one, single trunk, there were many branches, but only one main trunk. Now, the 10 are all coming up from the ground, nicely spaced in a perfect circle. It was originally planted in good compost, and I started using wood chip mulch last year, keeping it about a foot away from the trunk. That is the only thing I did differently. The most logical explanation is that the herbaceous roots have taken over, as maifleur suggested. I will check the stems and foliage tomorrow to be sure.

With that much new growth you and Maifleur are probably right. I'm just an eternal optimist, hoping for the best! Looking forward to your assessment and hoping your tree peony is okay.

Checked this morning - the stems are definitely woody and much thicker than the herbaceous peonies nearby. I noted that the leaves were tree peony leaves yesterday when I was removing them. Where the leaves were attached to the stem looks the same as my other tree peonies - healthy and plump as though they are ready to produce new growth. I have no idea if it is own root or grafted - would one or the other be the reason for all these new stems? I purchased it bare root from a peony farm.

I'd just fertilize it with a high potash organic bulb/flower mix

Over-fertilization is detrimental, don't use high nutrient percentage fertilizers unless a soil test has shown your soil is very low in the nutrient(s) these provide.

Shame on me, but I don't remember ever fertilizing my herbaceous or tree peonies until last spring when I used manure tea for the first time. This particular one probably needs more nutrients because it is planted at the base of a tall pine, however, it seems to be holding it's own with very little help from me. Because my soil is hard clay, I planted it in a large hole - 2'x2', with good compost.

Plants will do what they want. Good to hear that it is the tree peony growing. If you used manure tea the amount of nutrients was weak. When I fertilize I use a even formula. Because of the problems with the bone meal used in some bulb foods I never use it.

The light dawned. When you planted it because of the hard clay you essentially planted it in it's own pot. The plant's roots filled up the pot but the top area managed to sink it's roots into surrounding soil. Since the roots were near the surface they formed new stems with the additional nutrients that they now have access to. You may be able to remember the exact shape of the hole you dug and by checking where the new stems are located be able to tell if this is what has happened. Normally when plants are planted in heavy clay soil when the soil has a certain amount of moisture this will happen. If you are digging and see a glazing where the shovel's back has compressed the soil you are forming an in ground pot. The roots will circle within this pot, eventually killing the plant. Depending on wetness of the clay if you make radial cuts away from the planting area the roots will move into the cuts. The tip of roots have tremendous strength and with direct pressure push through rock but always try to follow the path of least resistance.

Sorry, should have said containing potash instead of high potash fertilizer, suggest potash because it encourages blooming. I use BulbTone, just started 3 years ago. Have grown peonies for over 20 years and never fertilized before but the difference in performance when I tried it the first time made a believer out of me. Most of my beds are raised with several inches of planter's mix and I STILL saw a marked difference in both first year blooms (add a significant amount of peonies every year) and on existing peonies when I started using it. And I use Azomite as well, strengthens the stems and (I believe, anyway) helps them resist damage from the late spring snows and freezes that we have.

The general consensus on peonies is that they don't really need fertilizer. They do tend to bloom every year and once established, a unfertilized peony can be a drop dead gorgeous plant. I started fertilizing after attending my first APS convention and saw how much bigger their flowers were than mine! I also saw other peony growers like me with plants that increased a lot faster than mine did so I started copying what they did. The big growers advise fertilizing in the summer after bloom is done and to apply that same fertilizer with a mineral fertilizer (like Azomite) in the spring. I don't think your tree peony failed to bloom because of a fertilizer deficiency but because it put up so many new stems in a single season, it'll probably bloom next spring regardless! You could have bigger and more blooms if you fertilize, though. Wish you the best of luck with it and make sure you post pictures so we can cheer with you when it blooms!

Here is an excerpt from a newsletter put out by Don Hollingsworth (you can sign up for them at www.hollingsworthpeonies.com)

Fertilizing. If you choose to fertilize your peonies now is the time to apply "organic" fertilizers such as compost, bone meal, and blood meal. Do not use mineral fertilizer at this time. Mineral fertilizer is applied in the spring. We use both forms of fertilizers and both forms do work well. However when applied at the wrong time of the year the plants might not get sufficient nutrients. "Organic" fertilizers need time to break down. On the other hand if mineral fertilizer is applied at the wrong time (in the fall) it gets washed away by the snow and rain during the winter. By the time your peony wake up in the spring this fertilizer has run off and your plants might be starving.