THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



done and the first tree peony in England was 

 seen at the Royal Garden in 1787. The plant 

 P. Banksii, which had flesh pink double flowers, 

 and several others which were received from time 

 to time, uniformly failed to thrive — due probably, 

 as one English writer surmises, to being too 

 rapidly forced as " stove " plants. 



In 1794 a fresh supply of tree peonies was 

 purchased in Canton and sent to England. Ow- 

 ing to the long voyage and improper packing, 

 many of these died en route: only three plants 

 survived the trip. On arrival at Kew, the three 

 were successfully grown outdoors, propagated, 

 and distributed in British collections. These peo- 

 nies had deep pink flowers and were named Rosea. 

 Later many other importations were made con- 

 sisting of the above varieties and the Papaveracea 

 or poppy-flowered peony. For a time high prices 

 were paid for the plants. 



In 1838, a monograph on the peony describes 

 only the tree peonies I have mentioned, but in 

 1850 there were a dozen distinct kinds in cultiva- 

 tion in England. Some of these had probably 

 been raised from seed obtained from the three 

 original varieties imported. The Earl of Mount 



200 



