Growing Peonies: It you live where peonies grow, it's the same every year in late spring. Certain homes have them in beds, borders, along drives--and anywhere they grow, they create probably the most beautiful clump of flowering of the whole season. Big, usually fluffy flowers in glossy green foliage.

Perennial peonies are what experienced gardeners call investment plants. They're some of the most permanent landscaping you can buy. In fact, many continue blooming beautifully for over 100 years. Once they're established, they're as hardy and dependable as oaks, creating a fantastic season of bloom in your yard year after year.

Growing magnificent peonies is not difficult. All you need is full sun and good soil. (In even partial shade, the bloom will be scant or non-existant--keep them out in the sun!) As most gardeners know, the roots look like a bunch of carrots--thick long tapering tuber-like masses that increase every year. Feed them, water them, and the clumps will expand rapidly, and more and more blooms will result.

Types of peonies: The standard perennial peony is Paeonia lactiflora but within the species, there are thousands of hybrids old and new. And there are several flower types: Singles, like the breathtaking "Krinkled White", Semi-doubles, like the beautiful red "Kansas", and of course, the most popular, the huge fully-double peonies with multi-petaled flowers up to 8 or 10" across. Examples of classic doubles are pink "Sarah Bernhardt", red "Karl Rosenfield", and white "Shirley Temple."

Then there are the ones with the expanded "ruffled" centers, many with delicious color combinations. "Bowl of Beauty" is famous for its contrasting colors, and "Raspberry Sundae" maxes out with three colors--white basal petals, a collar of yellow, and then pastel pink petals making up the center.

There's really no end to a gardener's pleasure with peonies. They're all good for cutting. The foliage stays glossy and green all summer long, and they attract almost no pests. (Don't confuse the standard perennial peony with the "Tree Peony", a separate group. Tree Peonies are more shrublike, and don't die down completely each winter.)

Staking: This is important, since once a peony is established, the heavy flowers are often too heavy for its stems. You don't have to stake them, but if you don't, you're going to have big beautiful flowers nodding down in the mud. So once you have a healthy clump, use "peony rings" to keep them upright. The "rings" are simply wheel-like wire arrangements that stand up over the peony like a little wire table as the plant sprouts in the spring. With upright supports, the "peony ring" is placed so the shoots will grow up through the round wire bale. Of course, the foliage quickly hides the "ring", and you have a beautifully-supported clump well before the flowers open. Where to find Peony Rings? GardenersSupply.com has great ones which I've used, and I recommend them.