20 



The Florists^ Review 



OCTOBEB 9, 1919. 



that field mice will raise havoc with 

 bulbs, especially tulips, if the soil is 

 open below the winter covering. These 



rodents are difficult to fight in the win- 

 ter, even when their presence has been 

 detected. 



FALL PLANTING FOR PEONIES. 



Proper Time Is Now. 



The best season for planting the 

 peony is in the fall, after the roots are 

 well ripened. In this latitude, this 

 occurs in most varieties after mid-Sep- 

 tember, and is shown by the foliage 

 becoming colored. Many nurserymen 

 begin digging in August, but a glance at 

 peonies then shows the foliage still quite 

 fresh and green. The roots suffer from 

 shriveling if dug and shipped while the 

 weather is hot. 



Where fancy blooms are wanted, it 

 will be well to excavate the proposed 

 beds to a depth of two to two and a half 

 feet and fill in with good loam which 

 has been well worked and broken (not 

 sifted) and mixed with three inches of 

 well rotted stable manure. If only new 

 manure is obtainable, it should be mixed 

 well with the soil in bottom of trench up 

 to within about fifteen inches of the 

 surface, and applied lightly as a mulch 

 on the surface after planting. 



In preparing beds do not put the 

 manure in layers and let it remain so. 

 The manure should be made as fine as 

 possible and thoroughly mixed with the 

 soil — not merely turned over. 



Care in Soil. 



Too much manure is often used for 

 the peony's good, with the result that 

 root decay sometimes sets in. Where 

 the ground is fertile it is often wise to 

 use no manure. 



Should one decide in spring or sum- 

 mer to plant in fall, and only new ma- 

 nure is obtainable, the bed may at once 

 be made, and with a forking over every 

 two weeks, ideal conditions will be had 

 by fall. In the heat of summer, manure 

 quickly disintegrates when handled thus. 

 The object of the above is to give the 

 roots abundant jilant food and yet pre- 

 vent luniy)s of decaying manure from 

 coming into direct contact with them, 

 which might cause rot to set in. There 

 is such a thing as getting the ground too 

 rich for the peony. 



Probably the best soil for the peony is 

 one which is neither too heavy with clay 

 nor too light with sand, one which might 

 be termed a heavy loam, and such as 

 would make a good vegetable garden. 

 Such a soil should be fairly retentive of 

 moisture, and the peony, being a strong, 

 quick grower, can absorb much water. 



Prepared by George R. Peterson, of Fair Lawn, 

 V. 3. 



Never plant the peony in soil where 

 peenies have grown before, or at least 

 until quite a number of jj^rs have 

 elapsed. Disregard of this "roll result 

 in comparative or even complete failure. 



Planting the Roots. 



The roots should be set so that the 

 upper eyes are about two to three inches 

 beneath the surface of the soil, and, if 

 planted in permanent beds, should be 

 about two and a half to three and a 

 half feet apart, according to the room 

 at one's disposal. When planted in 

 field for cut flower purposes, the plants 

 should be set three to three and a half 

 feet apart in the row, and the rows from 

 four to five feet apart, or plant four by 

 four to permit cross cultivation. 



No water need be applied when plant- 

 ing is done in the fall. In the spring, 

 after growths appear above ground and 

 rains prove infrequent, copious water- 

 ings will be helpful in promoting strong 

 growth and producing large blooms. 

 From the time buds begin to show color, 

 care should be exercised to keep them 

 and the open flowers as dry as possible, 

 confining the water as much as possible 

 to the ground. 



If the soil is fertile, plain water will 

 be best to use, and if it is necessary to 

 use manure water, apply in weak solu- 

 tion. 



Blooms and Foliage. 



When cutting flowers, always leave at 

 least two leaf stems on the stalk cut. 

 It is best not to cut all of the flowers, 

 as it is of vital importance that suffi- 

 cient foliage be left on the plant all sum- 

 mer to develop the eyes under ground 

 for next season's growths. 



The plants will make no further top 

 growth after the blooming season is 

 over. Keep the ground about them 

 stirred and free from weeds, and water 

 need be applied only when the ground is • 

 quite dry. 



Seed-pods and remains of flowers may 

 be cut off, but do not under any circum- 

 stances remove foliage until October. I 

 repeat this since I have known people 

 to cut off all foliage to the ground soon 

 after the blooming season was over, and 

 then next season wonder why they had 

 little or no bloom. 



Wintering. 



So far as protection from cold is con- 

 cerned, the peony does not need it in 

 even the most severe climate. The first 

 winter, the roots, being loose in the 

 ground, will require a light protection 



(an inch or so) of strawy manure or 

 other porous matwial. After this, if the 

 ground has beeii;»ade deep and rich, as 

 directed, I would^dvise withholding all 

 manure and i»t)t|jpkion for several years, 

 and, when it does again become neces- 

 sary to fertilize, the manure should be 

 broadcasted rather than placed directly 

 over the crown of the plant. The latter 

 method, study '^nd observation have 

 shown me, often induces decay to set in. 

 A heavy mulching, having to some 

 extent the same effect as a deep plant- 

 ing, will often be followed by blind 

 growths, or buds which fail to develop. 



Diseases and Insects. 



The peony is practically immune from 

 general diseases. See to it that you get 

 healthy plants to begin with, and then 

 you will have nothing to fear. 



If you obtain sickly-looking roots, it 

 is usually because they were grown in 

 soil where peonies had been grown 

 before. Some growers, after digging 

 and selling certain varieties, will propa- 

 gate and replant each year the same va- 

 rieties in the places where roots of the 

 same kinds had been dug earlier in the 

 season. In this way they may have 1, 

 2 and 3-year-old roots in the same row 

 and save much ground space, but it is a 

 poor practice. 



During a wet spring season some foli- 

 age, buds, and even stems will rot, but 

 unless the whole plant is affected (and 

 this has practically never happened here 

 among the many thousands of plants we 

 grow yearly), one need not be unduly 

 alarmed. 



The only insect which ever, even 

 slightly, injures the peony is the rose 

 chafer, which will sometimes be found 

 eating the petals of the flower. With 

 the exception of the later varieties, the 

 peony is usually done blocming ere this 

 pest appears, and so it would perhaps 

 be wise, where the chafer is annually 

 troublesome and one has no inclination 

 to combat it, to emit the later sorts. 

 The peony is, however, so very large, 

 with dense petalage, that this bug. when 

 it docs attack a flower, usuall'' buries 

 itself in the petal*;; and does not dis- 

 figure it as it does a rose or other 'lower. 



Ants, which arc often seen on the 

 buds as they are developing, are there to 

 gather a sweet, gum-like substance 

 which the bud exudes. They do no 

 harm to the coming flower nor to the 

 plant, and will disappear on the opening 

 of the flowers. 



Why Some Peonies Do Not Bloom. 



A peony root, whether large or small, 

 recently transplanted, will usually throw 

 up shoots more or less blind, or with 

 small buds which fail to develop. This 

 effect will also often be produced by 

 deep planting or too heavy a mulching 

 over winter. 



Occasionally severe late frosts, after 

 the peonies are well above ground, will 

 also destroy the coming blooms. This, 

 however, has never happened to a seri- 

 ous extent in this latitude during the 

 many years I have been interested in 

 peonies, but in some localities I have 

 known this to destroy practically the 

 entire crop, although it did not seriously 

 affect subsequent growth of the plant 

 for the season. 



Lack of moisture or fertility will 

 also affect the blooming qualities of a 

 plant. The peony requires much mois- 

 ture during the few weeks preceding its 

 blooming time. Afterward, having by 

 June made its entire growth above 



