SOME plants merit a little fuss. The herbaceous peonie is bone. There is a luxuriousness and exotic voluptuousness about the flowers that causes instant attraction.

For these plants to do well, a few basic rules must be observed. Planting positions need to be chosen carefully full sun and the best soil. Herbaceous peonies must be planted shallow bury them deeply and they sulk and dwindle. As they need the best soil, the ground should be well dug and generously enriched with manure or well rotted garden compost.

The correct time to move or divide peonies is now and this applies to tree peonies also. From mid September to mid October is the ideal, the roots should be allowed to settle in before the soil becomes too cold and wet.

Plant them as well and with as much care and generosity as possible because they should not be messed around with for a long time again. The best and happiest peonies are those well nourished and left alone for years on end. Unlike most other herbaceous plants, they like to be left alone undisturbed but not neglected or forgotten. If you must divide or move them - and such is allowable every 10 years or so (some would say only once in a generation) - do so immediately.