"Some of my friends and customers have sent me photos, recording that how they used the petals of peony flowers as ingredients to cook various dishes, like pork-ribbed soup, seafood salad, porridge, noodles and dumplings," says Fan.

"Peonies have been used as food for centuries. If all the processed foods are included, there could be a total of more than 400 cooking and processing methods of eating peonies," he adds.

Noting that tulips are a pivotal industry in the Netherlands, Fan says he hopes the importance of peonies could be more recognized, wishing the beautiful plants could exert more influence to propel China's gardening industry as well as serving as a medium to boost international exchanges.