Hey T, The peonies I have came up with no coaxing at all...no fussing on my part. Actually, we didn't know they were there until they started coming up, and then we didn't know what they were (coming up in the middle of the lawn) and just let them grow on their own. I want to say they're pretty hardy
flowers - anything that survived the mess this place was in for so long must be - are you sure they're shriveling and not just changing in appearance? Can you describe what you mean by shriveling? (color, texture, etc.?)
Mary