THE PEONY 67 



identical with Grandiflora Nivea Plena. Others had had similar 

 disappointments, for Lady Duff turned out to be first James Kelway, 

 then ]Mrs. Gwyn Lewis, and a host of other things, even to Festiva 

 Maxima, till Mr. Shaylor in disgust, pronounced the Lady a myth, 

 using a famous quotation, "There ain't no such thing." Mr. 

 Kelway finally got so stirred up over the storm of criticism from 

 his angry patrons in this country, that some years later he sent to 

 several of us what he declared was a really truly Lady Duff, ac- 

 companied by photographs from his own garden, showing the 

 original plant in flower. I met many others there, whom for lack 

 of time I cannot mention, but I formed friendships with them that 

 have endured to this day. Some of them have passed away, but 

 the greatest thing I learned was that Peony people as a class are 

 mighty fine people. They are true blue. For they grow Peonies, 

 not as a commercial proposition, but because they really love the 

 flower, and find in it a fascination that cannot be resisted. 



The Peony is a true aristocrat of the hardy garden. I do not 

 apply this as a mere phrase, for it is true in every sense, both as to 

 its lineage and its associations. In China it is said that the Tree 

 Peony has been their chief pride and glory for nearly 1500 years, 

 a theme for their poets and painters, and prized by their emperors 

 for the beauty and fragrance of its flowers; and for more than 

 a thousand years a record of the characters, qualities, and parentage 

 of the new varieties raised from seed has been kept. In their 

 gardens the Tree Peony is known as the "King of Flowers," and 

 the herbaceous Peony as the "King's Ministers." It is descended 

 from Paeonia albiflora, a native of Siberia. Know^ing this, I can 

 well understand why it thrives so luxuriantly in the rich alluvial 

 soil of our western states, and why it is the flower for the great 

 Northwest, enduring, as it does, the most intense cold without 

 injury. This Asiatic Peony must not be confused with the old- 

 fashioned, early flowering red Peony of our grandmothers' gardens, 

 which belongs to an entirely distinct species, officinalis, a native of 

 Europe, the early history of which is intricately woven with a haze 

 of superstition, allegory, and myth. Its magical charms were 

 supposed to ward off witchcraft, and the name Peony is derived 

 from a Dr. Peon, who used its roots as medicine. 



The modern Chinensis Peony has only been known in Europe a 



