THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



Should August and September be low in 

 rainfall, it is also desirable to apply some moist- 

 ure in those months. As an instance of peonies 

 being dependent on water the season of 1911 in 

 England is instructive. Peony flowers were 

 almost a complete failure in that year: growers 

 attributed this to the drought in April and May, 

 1911, and a drought in the summer and fall of 

 1910. 



Disbudding 



In many varieties of P. albiflora, three flower 

 buds, two lateral and one terminal, appear on 

 each stem. By pinching off the lateral buds as 

 soon as it is possible to get hold of them, additional 

 strength will be thrown into the remaining bud 

 and an increase of the size and beauty of the 

 flowers will result. 



Disbudding entails considerable work when 

 one has a large number of peonies: it is usually 

 done when flowers for cutting or exhibition pur- 

 poses are desired. Still the ardent gardener, who 

 knows his every peony by name and watches each 

 individual flower unfold day by day, finds the 

 task far from irksome and would gladly do twice 

 as much. Single peonies, because of the decora- 



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