ONE November day in 1955, I went to visit an elderly couple living on a small farm.
The place was not only located in one of the coldest, frostiest parts of settled Tasmania, but it was on the top of a high, windswept hill.
And a most amazing sight greeted me - thousands of some of the most healthy, vigorous herbaceous peonies I'd ever seen.
They were all in full bloom.
Some were almost waist high and of a kind rarely seen in gardens these days, almost all were original species from which most modern cultivated forms have been bred.
When I asked the old lady how she had managed to succeed so well, despite the bitterly-cold climate during winter, she proudly announced that she did absolutely nothing for the plants, apart from giving them an annual dressing of pulverised cow manure.
In fact, the clumps had been planted at least 50 years earlier and had never been lifted, dug around or divided.
Let me confess, I went back a few months later and was given a division to take home. I still have it (see the picture).
This is the great thing about all the peonies, including the even more flamboyant tree peonies.
All adore the cold. They love perfectly-drained, fertile soil and some of the best clumps of all are best left undisturbed for decades.
All peonies grow furiously from late winter.
Some shrubby forms come into flower in early August, but most are in bloom right now.
And yet by early January, they have already lost their energy and are beginning to look a bit exhausted and miserable.
Around the middle of April, most of the herbaceous forms have virtually died back to the ground and when winter arrives, there is nothing to be seen above the ground.
But down below are massive, carrot-like roots, great clumps of them, lying dormant but ready to burst forth again in late winter.
All peonies need full sunlight.
The reason why some older clumps gradually stop flowering is almost always because plants have become over-shadowed by larger shrubs.
If herbaceous peonies have to be divided, the best time to do the job is mid-April.
By this time new growth buds have already formed at the base of dead stalks. The clumps can be lifted, with the large roots still kept unbroken if possible, and cut apart.
Two buds for each new division are enough, but if the roots are small or damaged, there will be no flowers for a couple of years.
Growing peonies from seed is difficult, especially tree peonies.
The plants are forming pods containing the large, bean-like seeds right now.
When these pods mature and the big seeds start to dry off, they become locked into a powerful dormancy.
This is why it is so hard to get old seeds to germinate.
However, if peony seeds can be sown immediately, while still moist - just as the pods begin to open - there is a much better chance of getting them to germinate.
I have succeeded in raising seedlings of many herbaceous peonies by taking quick action like this in early summer.
However, the only tree peony I have managed to raise easily from seed has been the yellow-flowered species.
So if you are in despair because you are trying to grow beautiful plants in a very cold district, try a few peonies.
They are among the most beautiful of all flowering plants and they'll thrive, even if you only feed them once a year.
