April is the best time for people to appreciate peony, widely acclaimed as the noblest of Chinese flowers. With a long history of cultivation, Heze, East China's Shandong province, is the country's major peony base with more than 1,200 varieties available.

A major place in the city to appreciate peony is the Caozhou Flower Garden, which is located in the Peony district of Heze and home to 120,000 peonies of more than 800 varieties over its 6-hectare growing area. Over 500 peonies there are more than 100 years old.

The most appealing, however, is the variety that is more than 400 years old and can bear more than hundreds of pink flowers every year. The peony was planted in 1610, making it the oldest such flower in China, according to the Heze tourism information center.