The Japanese and Chinese have for centuries celebrated the voluptuous beauty of tree peonies in their gardens, paintings, wall hangings and ceramics. I love the deep red, pink and crimson varieties less so the yellow ones. Either way, the fine red-green foliage makes them attractive garden plants even when they aren’t in flower.

Pure white forms are much sought after by aficionados. ‘Ice Storm’, the tree peony bred by my late friend Sir Peter Smithers, must just be coming into bloom now (early May) in his garden on the southern slopes of lake Como. Its pure white form is exquisitely shaped while another of his offspring ‘Dojean’ (named after his wife who died shortly before Peter) is a white semi double with flashes of red. One of the tree peonies I grow in my garden, the deep red Cardinal Vaughan, is just beginning to open its single bud after four years during which it produced nothing; this is not unusual.

Follow these ten top tips for successful peony-growing:

I. Patience is one of the most important tools when it comes to growing tree peonies. They can take years to flower. What’s more you will get better blooms if you remove any bud that appears in the first two years. I think that this can be called tough love.

Gardening tips: ten things you need to know about tree peonies

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2. They will thrive in most situations although they do not like wind and, like camellias, they should be kept out of early morning sun. They also need good air circulation.

3. Rich, neutral soil is the best although many different types will do so long as they never dry or get waterlogged.

4. Plant them with a handful of blood and bone and mulch them with garden compost mixed with blood and bone every autumn.

5. Tree peonies need to be planted six inches below the soil – or three inches if they are container grown. Grafted trees may send up suckers of herbaceous peonies (the leaves are greener and are not as finely cut as tree peony leaves). They need to be cut out.

6. Pruning, if it is needed, should be done in February. Cut out all dead or diseased wood back to a new bud, or down to soil level. Old tree peonies respond well to pruning. Take one main stem a year down to a live bud about a foot above the soil

7. Although tree peonies will grow in pots (in John Innes no 3) they will not thrive indoors because they need cold to produce buds. Tree peonies are not a good bet as long-term pot plants.

8. Peony Wilt is a fungal disease which has to be controlled with good hygiene and air circulation around the plants.

9. Some varieties are scented. My favourite scented tree peony is the Paeonia delavayi species, which has small, single, waxy, deep red flowers and a generous habit of self seeding with abandon.

10. Tree peony nurseries include Kelways, Claire Austin, Woottens, and Fir Tree Farm Nursery

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