You need to sow the seed in autumn as soon as it is ripe. Either create a seed bed in your garden and sow each individual seed in the same way you would a pea or bean seed marking the row with a stick or plant two or three seeds in a pot and stick outside in a corner somewhere. The seeds need warmth, followed by cold, followed by more warm to germinate hence sowing immediately the seed is ripe. To be honest we simply let the seed fall and do its own thing!

Snap. But if you have saved the seed over winter and it has dried out, then soak it in warm soapy water overnight before sowing. Watch out for meeces, they love Paeony seeds.

If you do sow the seed now it needs to be in a pot and left somewhere warmish (i.e warm greenhouse or indoors) for a couple of months, then in a fridge for a couple of months, then warm again, by which time it 'should' be warm enough to leave them outside to get on with it.

thanks two you both for answering my question.
i'll try to plant the seed now.