Although there are many cultivated varieties of peony, we deal mainly with the pure species. These have single flowers, mainly red or pink, perhaps with white varieties, but there are also fabulous ones with pale yellow flowers. They are all herbaceous, and it is a delight to see the dark red noses of the new stems pushing through the ground in late winter, two or three where there was one the previous year, and soon a great clump of them.

Paeonia officinalis is known as the common peony - as if any peony should go by such a name! Each of the dark green leaves is divided into 9 leaflets. Lovely, open, cup-shaped deep pink or red with yellow stamens are borne singly in early summer. This is the classic cottage peony, with large cup-shaped deep magenta flowers and finely divided dark green leaves, contrasting well with paler hued companions. It is a long-lived species and generally happy in a range of soils.