On 16 Jun 2003 09:15:19 -0700, Jen in Chicago wrote:
Thank you all for your help. Actually, the branches are all GONE!
Vanished. Anything broken was taken too. I found a lonely bud in the
bushes a few feet away while I was planting TWO replacement peonies
this weekend. I'll water, feed and pray and we'll see what happens
next year!...

This sounds more like kids or lawnmower or deer damage... of the three,
deer is least likely, as they tend to munch peonies only as a last resort,
preferring almost anything else, including the prickliest roses in the world.

If they disappeared just as the buds were showing color, my suspicions would be
that they got sold as cut flowers...