peonies

Cultivation
Peonies are extremely easy to grow in many areas from zone 3 to 8. They like full sun in all but the hottest climates. Too little sun and you will have few blooms. Even if you have an hour or two of full sun and partial shade the rest of the day, your flower show will suffer. However, if you have long, hot summers a little light shade, especially in the afternoon, can be beneficial and preserve the color of your flowers.
Soil should be well drained and rich. Poor soil with poor drainage will annihilate your peonies quickly.
Peonies can be slow growers, especially if you start with small divisions. Young plants can take several years before flowering.
Peonies need good nutrition to produce those spectacular flowers. However, unless your soil actually needs amending (sandy, for example) adding a good compost in the fall should do the trick. If you need to add a fertilizer, scratch a granular type into the soil in spring when you fertilize the rest of your perennials.
Plant so the top of the divisions are no deeper than two inches.
The peonies have an eye simlar to a potato and the eye needs to be no deeper than two inches from the top of the soil.