Thank you for this post Bob! It seems quite logical that peonies (that are rather “slow growers”, but keep on going for decades), would go through this procedure of starting the development of new stems already on the year previous to their actual growth above ground. Thank you for calling our attention to that; I know I will certainly keep this in mind from now on… The next question comes to mind though: is not spring possibly the MOST “profitable” time to fertilize? Why keep on fertilizing throughout the whole summer? Do the pionies still get a little extra boost from it?