CHAPTER VI 



WHERE TO PLANT AND HOW TO PREPARE THE 



SOIL 



The Peony in Landscape Work 



FROM the appreciation of the beauty of the 

 peony as an individual flower it is but a step 

 to the realisation of its value in landscape work. 

 The whole effect of peonies may be described as 

 enlivening: their natural " air of gaiety," as one 

 writer aptly calls it, is a charm quite by itself, 

 distinctly in addition to their artistic appearance 

 and is present whether they are arranged in large 

 groups or in small plantings. 



A striking picture can be obtained by massing 

 peonies in lawns or open fields, or at a distance 

 with a background of trees. As an example of 

 the first method of treatment, the peonies in broad 

 curving beds at Highland Park, Rochester, make 

 an admirable composition. Another instance of 

 this plan is on the estate of Miss Morris (near 

 Philadelphia) , where a gleaming ribbon of peonies 

 separated by a strip of turf follows the outlines 

 of a long bed of shrubbery. 



Peonies are well planted in front of but a little 



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