PLANTING LIST 



355 



in double rows, about six inches apart, space is saved. The dwarfs 

 thus help to support each other. But for the taller sorts some 

 support must be provided in the space between the pairs of rows ; 

 use brush, or chicken wire held up on posts, or some kind of trellis 

 made of sticks and string. A good kind may be made of laths, 

 set crossing each other, with a couple of lines of string to hold 

 them in place. 



Peony : One of the finest garden perennials, beautiful in the shape 

 and color of the large blossoms. The plant is free-bearing, growing 

 larger from year to 

 year, and very easy 

 to grow. It cannot, 

 however, with any 

 satisfaction be 



grown from seed. 

 Gardeners should 

 buy roots, the bigger 

 the more expensive, 

 but also the more 

 satisfactory. There 

 are many varieties, 

 single as well as FIG. 197. Large fruits of pepper, 



double, and ranging 



from white through pink to the old-fashioned red. Some varieties are 

 scented. A careful choice of varieties (consult your seedsman) will 

 prolong the season by several days. The blossoms begin in late May. 



Culture of peonies is absolutely simple. The ground should be 

 made as rich and as deep as possible ; for each plant (standing thirty 

 inches or more apart) it is well to prepare the ground as for a shrub 

 or tree, to two feet of depth if possible, and with manure or compost 

 mixed in with the earth. Plants may be set in August (use great 

 care), in late September, or in earliest spring. Set the roots a few 

 inches underground, and do not let them dry out. There will prob- 

 ably be no bloom until the second year, and the plants will not 

 do their best until the third. But after that they will improve 



