.7 ..'J ;-'7'.;-w^. ■- ■ 



JfXE 22. 1005. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



243 



Display by the Peterson Nursery at the Peony Exhibition, Chicago, June 16 and 17. 



the peony has suffered somewhat in popu- 

 lar estimation. In a few years all this 

 should be changed and a sufficient quan- 

 tity of the most attractive sorts that are 

 best suited for cut flower purposes should 

 be grown to supply the needs of the 

 market, and when this occurs the de- 

 mand for peonies for cut flower purposes 

 will be largely increased. 



A Frequent Experience* 



The difficulties of accumulating a 

 large stock of the better varieties that 

 shall prove true to name are great indeed 

 because owing to the chaotic state of 

 peony nomenclature at the present time, 

 no one is sure of getting what he orders 

 unless he is able to visit the peony fields 

 in blooming time and identify and mark 

 the plants he desires. 



A somewhat extensive experience in 

 purchasing peonies during the past ten 

 years has developed some curious re- 

 sults. For instance, in one case a grower 

 sent two absolutely different colors un- 

 der the same name. This occurred with 

 the peony Henri Murger. The true Hen- 

 ri Murger is described as an immense 

 bloom of the form and color of the Paul 

 Neyron rose. The first year that the 

 question sent us Henri Murger 

 a tall growing, deep purplish 

 which as yet we have been un- 

 identify. The following year 

 they sent us a very double creamy white 

 sort which bore no resemblance Either 

 in habit, form or color to the one sent 

 before. Neither of them resembled in 

 any respect, either in habit, form, color 

 or time of blooming, the true Henri Mur- 

 ger. In another case a totally different 

 peony in point of habit, form and date 

 of blooming was sent but of the same 

 shade of color as the genuine variety or- 

 dered. The second year from the same 

 firm came under the same name another 

 lot which again did not resemble the 

 true variety either in form, habit or date 

 of blooming but still of the same shade 



firm in 

 we got 

 crimson 

 able to 



of color and neither of these varieties 

 resembled in any respect the true va- 

 riety, whether in form, habit or date of 

 blooming, with the exception that the 

 shades of color were very close to the 

 true variety. 



Working Up Stock. 



After an extensive experience in at- 

 tempting to accumulate considerable 

 stock of the specially desirable varieties, 

 I have come to the conclusion that the 

 only practical way to work up a true 

 stock is to purchase a moderate quantity 

 of the sorts from some source where you 

 are able to identify them as true and 

 then, after blooming the plants three 

 years, cut out all rogues which may de- 

 velop and look after the propagating and 

 division of the stock yourself, for I 

 have found where you leave it to em- 

 ployes, they not having the same interest 

 in keeping the stock clean that you have, 

 will allow errors to slip in. A rogue 

 once introduced in a stock frequently 

 multiplies twice as rapidly as the true 

 variety, the result being a large propor- 

 tion of rogues when the stock has been 

 considerably augmented. In Holland the 

 custom is to take up peonies and divide 

 them every year or two, consequently the 

 plants are never seen in bloom and this 

 mode of forcing the propagation is prob- 

 ably the reason why so many rogues are 

 found in the general run of Holland 

 peonies imported to this country. 



Peonies in Landscape Work. 



Undoubtedly our favorite flower is one 

 of the most effective of all early flow- 

 ering herbaceous plants for use in ex- 

 tensive landscape plantings. It not only 

 can be used in masses producing grand 

 color results, effectively lighting up dark 

 nooks and corners, but they can also be 

 interspersed among shrubbery, lending 

 additional effective color to such groups. 

 The plants when out of bloom are not 

 unsightly, as is the case with many other 

 herbaceous flowers, but the deep, fresh 



greens and bronzy greens of the peony 

 foliage are maintained in general good 

 condition throughout the greater portion 

 of the season. 



The range of peony colors is unex~ 

 celled, comprising almost all the shades 

 of pink, from the most delicate flesh tints 

 to the deepest shades. The same may be 

 said of white, crimson, purple and ama- 

 ranth. It is weak however, in yellow, as 

 we have comparatively few sorts that 

 might be termed yellow and these are 

 generally light in color, the guard petals 

 being almost invariably white, and it 

 cannot be said that there is as yet any 

 true solid yellow peony. 



Landscape architects should learn to 

 know the peony better and should become 

 acquainted with the finer and more de- 

 sirable sorts and should use them more 

 extensively hereafter than they have in 

 the past. I am quite certain that the 

 peony often suffers in reputation by the 

 use of common undesirable colors in 

 classes of work where good, clean com- 

 plementary colors are needed and should 

 be used and the peony will never take 

 its proper place in landscape work until 

 landscapers in general become better ac- 

 quainted with the more desirable sorts 

 and learn to know them as well as to 

 use them. 



A Regrettable G>ntroversy. 



It is to be regretted that an unfortu- 

 nate controversy arose over the forma- 

 tion of the American Peony Society re- 

 sulting in forming within the ranks of 

 the Society of American Florists the S. 

 A. F. Peony Society or Peony Commit- 

 tee as it has more recently been called, 

 giving color to the idea that the Society 

 of American Florists was opposed to and 

 endeavoring to kill off our association, I 

 have been led to believe that it has been 

 asserted by certain elements in the So- 

 ciety of American Florists that the for- 

 mation of the Carnation Society, the 

 Chrysanthemum Society, the Peony So- 



