Plant bareroot peonies for glamour

Peonies are glamorous beauties that flower in late spring and early summer.

They can be voluptuous and billowy, with flower heads of ruffled petals, or more exotic, with open, cup-shaped blooms in rich tones that contrast with golden-yellow centres. Now’s a great time to plant them as bareroot specimens while the soil’s still warm but reasonably damp. You can buy peonies all year round as container-grown plants. These tend to have fewer growth buds than their bareroot siblings, but bareroot plants (available between October and the end of February) take less time to establish and produce flowers. PLANTING TIPS: 1. Improve the soil. Peonies like rich soil so add plenty of well-rotted compost when planting. They don’t like sitting in wet soil over winter so choose their spot carefully and add horticultural grit to improve drainage in heavy clay. 2. Don’t plant them too deep. Peonies can stop flowering if the roots are too deep, so make sure the ‘eyes’ (the stubby root growths that become next year’s stems) are about 5cm (2in) below the soil surface. Avoid mulching over the top of the crown, too.