Peonies, for me, are the ultimate romantic flower.

You almost forget you have them as they vanish down below ground in winter.

Then, what a delight, when their tight buds appear every year, promising such delights in shades of whites, pinks and reds in late spring and early summer.

Native to Asia, Europe and Western North America, peonies have been used and cultivated in China since the sixth and seventh century, when they were grown in the imperial gardens.

Ornamental cultivars were created from plants being used for medicine.

I wonder how anyone survived, as peonies are in fact extremely poisonous.

The tree peony was introduced to Kew Gardens in 1789.

The UK is the main centre for peony breeding in Europe with the Netherlands being the largest for peony cut flowers producing 50 million stems each year.

The fragrant rose pink double flowered Sarah Bernhardt dominates the sales with over 20 million stems.

There are two type of peonies; herbaceous and tree and there are six types of peony flower; single; semi-double; double; anemone; Japanese and bomb.

They seem to have a reputation for being difficult to grow but as long as you get a few basics right you should be okay.

They need full sun, although they will tolerate some light shade and good drainage is essential.

Don’t plant too deep, the top of the crown should only be 5cm below soil level.

Peonies are pretty drought tolerant once established but mulching around the crown will help conserve

moisture and suppress weeds.

Stems may need staking to help keep up the heavy flower heads and cut the foliage down to ground levels once it dies back in autumn to reduce risk of peony wilt.

Peony varieties to try:

Paeonia ‘Bowl of Beauty’ mid green leaves and cupped cerise pink-cupped flowers and a central mass of cream-white petaloids, 80cm tall.

Paeonia lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ dark green foliage fragrant fully double white flowers reaching 80cm.

Peaonia lactiflora ‘Whitleyi Major’ growing to 75cm it has red-tinged foliage and cupped white, single flowers up to 10cm wide, bright yellow stamens.