Tree peonies are Asian cousins of herbaceous ones, and they are as elegant as a Chinese watercolour. Tree peonies are slow-growing shrubs that reach as much as two metres tall and wide.

Most "bargain" tree peonies are Japanese types, many of them newly grafted or at most only a year old. If they are planted and cared for correctly, they will eventually grow from their own roots, too.

My tree peony always has bounced back from this leaf disease, but I'm sure it weakens the plant. The control is to spray with a fungicide every 7 to 10 starting from when the leaves emerge in spring.

The plants known as tree peonies won’t reach tree size but they do have a shrubby framework of woody branches that persists through the winter.

The garden was founded in 1989 by Kasha and David Furman with a focus on Chinese tree peonies. It became one of the first nurseries in the United States to sell such rare varieties of peony plants ...

They flower for longer than tree peonies and make lovely specimen plants. Claire Austin's perennial nursery offers Itoh varieties in yellow, salmon, pink and other hues claireaustinhardyplants.co.uk.