Junk 11, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Peony Exhibition at the Andorra Nurseries^ Chestnut Hill, Pa* 



taken, was the placing of boughs of 

 green and copper beech in front, where 

 the burlap is seen. 



John H. Humphreys, William Warner 

 Harper's right-hand man, said there 

 would be a new exhibition each week 

 during the summer. Japanese iris and 

 hardy phloxes will soon follow. Phil. 



OPEN HOUSE AT PETERSOlSrS. 



Charles Willis Ward, of Queens, N. Y., 

 president of the American Peony Society, 

 was the first of the stream of members 

 of the trade who are this week wending 

 their way out from the business district 

 of Chicago to the peony fields of the 

 Peterson Nursery. Mr. Ward spent a 

 portion of Saturday, June 6, in Chicago, 

 having come down from the Michigan 

 woods, above Saginaw, for the special 

 purpose of going over the peony situation 

 with Mr. Peterson, and looking over his 

 fields. This week the members of the 

 American Association of Nurserymen, by 

 twos and threes and half dozens, are in- 

 specting the Peterson stock, and espie- 

 cially the peonies, on their way to or 

 from the Milwaukee convention. 



To the Review Mr. Ward said that in 

 the last year he has rather lost to»ch 

 with the carnation, the peony and the 

 nursery business through having to spend 

 a large part of his time looking after his 

 interests in the lumber district of Mich- 

 igan. The sale of the estate in which 

 Mr. Ward is concerned is scheduled to 

 take place June 15 and on its prompt 

 consummation depends Mr. Ward's pres- 

 ence at the peony convention at Ithaca, 

 N. Y., June 19 and 20. Mr. Ward says 

 it will take perhaps another year to close 

 up his affairs in Michigan, and after that 

 he purposes to secure relaxation by di- 

 verting his energies to his hobbies, which 

 are the carnation and the peony. 



As for the peony: "Our sales in- 

 crease each year and I haven't vet met 

 anyone who was not fond of the flower, ' ' 

 said Mr. Ward. "There is no other 

 plant or flower that has such a wide 



range of usefulness; in landscape work 

 and on home grounds it will be much 

 more extensively used, while it is so im- 

 portant a cut flower that in its season it 

 crowds all others and takes the center of 

 the stage. Every florist who grows cut 

 stock for his own trade will find he must 

 have his field of peonies, and when his 

 customers see them in bloom they will 

 buy plants at good prices." 



At the Peterson Nursery there is a row 

 of Festiva Maxima, more than 500 plants 

 5 years old. They are in rich, deep, well 

 drained soil and stand four and a half 

 feet high. Aside from those in the trade, 

 there are hundreds of other visitors dur- 

 ing peony time, for it is the practice to 

 keep open house at Peterson Manor, as 

 the society editor calls it, during that 

 fortnight. There is never a hint of busi- 

 ness, but, if the visitor has grounds at 

 home, the sight of that magnificent row of 

 Festiva Maxima is pretty sure to cause 

 inquiry for the order clerk. Anyway, the 

 visitor is given a couple of blooms to 

 take home. "That lands them every 

 time," said Mr. Peterson. "After they 

 have had them in water a day, and the 

 flowers have attained their full develop- 

 ment, they simply can't resist; and when 

 they telephone for some plants of 'the 

 big white,' of course they take a pink." 



"What pink do you put in the same 

 class as Festiva Maxima?" was a nat- 

 ural question. 



"Well, there are few better peonies, 

 of any color, than Mons. Jules Elie. It 

 is clear flesh pink, massive shape, extra 

 large, free, early and in every way a fit 

 companion for Festiva Maxima. It is 

 good either for the garden or for cut- 

 ting. ' ' 



* ' But there is more than one good 

 pink, ' ' continued Mr. Peterson. ' ' Living- 

 stone is an extra fine late pink, a rich, 

 clear shade, a variety of the highest 

 class. Delicatissima is one of the best 

 cut flower sorts. It is large, clear pink, 

 exceptionally fragrant and a strong 

 grower, so it can be cut with long stems. ' ' 



Giganthea is one Mr. Ward thinks well 

 of. It is a beautifully clear shade of 

 light pink, full centered and a specially 

 fine thing for cut flower work. "The 

 only criticism of it," said Mr. Peterson, 

 who has worked up quite a stock, "is 

 that it is slow to multiply. It was sent 

 out by a Holland firm as Giganthea, but 

 it is the earlier French introduction. La 

 Martine, renamed." 



"Before we get too far away from 

 the subject of whites, I want to say a 

 word for Mme. de Verneville. It is cer- 

 tainly one of the most beautiful sorts 

 we have. Its form is not at all like 

 Festiva Maxima, being globular and reg- 

 ular. It is pure white, with a faint 

 blush tint in the center; delicate, early, 

 free and exceptionally fragrant. In my 

 opinion it is worth special mention in 

 every dealer's list." 



To go back to the pinks, Alexandriana 

 is one that looks like an exalted Gi- 

 ganthea; but if you chance to pick up 

 a price-list you find Alexandriana the 

 cheaper. Evidently it combines rapid 

 growth and divisibility with its other 

 good qualities. 



At Peterson Nursery no pretense is 

 made of introducing new sorts, but every 

 new name leads to an order for stock 

 for trial. If it proves to be an old sort, 

 renamed, it gives a line on the party who 

 supplied the stock; if it proves an im- 

 provement, stock is worked up; if no im- 

 provement, the department store buyer 

 gets the whole lot of plants. In this 

 way over 400 varieties are being grown, 

 but only a few score are in quantity, 

 with more of a couple dozen sorts than 

 of all the other 400 combined. 



The mixed nomenclature of the peony 

 doesn't worry Mr. Peterson as much as 

 it does some people. He buys large quan- 

 tities of stock in Europe and from Amer- 

 ican dealers, but does not sell a plant 

 until it has flowered on his own grounds. 

 "If every large American grower would 

 follow that practice, each would know 

 exactly what he was doing and all dealers 

 could buy with certainty they would get 



s 



