EXTENDING THE PERIOD OF BLOOM 



Adonis peony. With its fragrant flowers of 

 bright blood-red, and its deeply cut fern-like 

 leaves, resembling somewhat those of giant fen- 

 nel, it is thoroughly in harmony with the other 

 delicate traceries of early Spring. This graceful 

 little plant which attains only sixteen or eighteen 

 inches in height, still has a strong appeal, but is 

 not planted in the modern garden as frequently 

 as it deserves to be. A few weeks after blooming 

 P. tenuifolia dies down to the ground and dis- 

 appears until the following Spring, differing in 

 this respect from the other species, whose foliage 

 remains and helps to furnish the garden all Sum- 

 mer. There are both single and double flowered 

 varieties : it is difficult to decide which is the more 

 attractive. 



This peony is a native of the Ukraine, Russia, 

 a region that lies north of the Black Sea. It 

 grows in profusion there and on the hilly grounds 

 and steep banks of the Terek District in the Cau- 

 casus. The first mention of it was in a Euro- 

 pean catalogue published in 1757. It is thought 

 to have been introduced into England by Wilham 

 Malcolm in 1765. 



(2) The season of P. tenuifolia is closely fol- 

 io? 



