June 17, 1009. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



A Peony Decoration by W. J. Smyth, Chicago. 



(|ueen of the autumn flowers, or the lily, 

 leader of other white flowers for wed- 

 ding decorations, can compare with the 

 peony where striking effect is to be ob- 

 tained upon a large scale. In the season 

 (if June weddings, when the retail florist 

 most often is called upon to decorate 

 laige edifices, there is nothing which can 

 be considered as a rival of the peony. 

 The June wedding decorator would be 

 lost without it. Its colors are so varied 

 as to combine with any setting and the 

 size of the flower not only makes it the 

 best thing on the market in its season, 

 but at the same time its price is so rea- 

 sonable that it can be used in quantity 

 by those who might not make equal use 

 i)f other flowers. 



For commencement purposes there is 

 no flower in season to compare with the 

 peony, either for the decorations or for 

 presentation bouquets. For funeral pur- 

 poses nothing the skilled florisf can use 

 makes a finer spray than white or light 

 pink peonies, with Sprengeri, and for the 

 money no other flower makes half so 

 jjood a show. Indeed, there is hardly 

 •tny place where flowers are used to which 

 'he peony is not splendidly adapted, and 

 those retailers who are setting the trade 

 the best example are making good use 

 of the opportunity the flower of June 

 presents. 



For Storage and Shipment. 



From a wholesaler 's point of view the 

 l>eony is one of the important seasonal 

 <rops. It has one advantage over prac- 

 tically every other flower handled in 

 quantity in the wholesale markets: many 

 fine varieties can be cut in bud and 

 stored for weeks without losing salabil- 



ity. The result is that the southern crop 

 is stored to meet the great demand in 

 northern markets for flowers for 

 Memorial day, while the northern crop is 

 stored to meet the requirements of late 

 June, when roses and carnations are on 

 the downward grade. The result is that 

 the peony not only realizes a profitable 

 price to growers, but is available when 

 without it business would be lost. There 

 is no better shipper than the peony when 

 handled rightly. 



It was the demand for peony blooms 

 in wholesale markets that gave rise to 

 the principal demand for stock a few 

 years ago. There have been many acres 

 planted for this one purpose. As rapid 

 increase in the production of any other 

 flower would mean that the supply would 

 quickly become unwieldy. With the 

 peony there are none too many of those 

 cut by men who have gone deeper into 

 the subject than the mere spading up of 

 a plot of ground for the roots. The mar- 

 keting of stock in its best shape is no 

 less important than the growing. Many 

 a grower has lost his profit solely 

 through his carelessness in marketing. 



Those florists who grow for their own 

 retail trade find the peony doubly profit- 

 able. First, they have the blooms for 

 their cut flower trade; and, second, a 

 well-established plant of any of the bet- 

 ter sorts of peony, blooming on a 

 florist 's lawn, will invariably make buy- 

 ers of those who see it — the florist sells 

 the blooms in spring and the roots in 

 autumn. 



In the Nursery. 



Ten years ago the nurseries that ha<l 

 any considerable stock of peonies could 



be counted on one's fingers; today there 

 is no nursery of prominence in the line 

 of providing decorative material that 

 does not have its peony department. 

 Both wholesale and retail lists are issued 

 for the mail trade, and the agents add 

 a few peony roots to every order; no cus- 

 tomer buying for his home grounds re- 

 fuses to invest a dollar or two in peonies. 

 A few years ago the wholesale busi- 

 ness was extremely heavy, for nurseries 

 were stocking up. They were cleaning 

 out the common sorts and putting in 

 stock of the new and best old varieties. 

 The wholesale business with the nurseries 

 is now no less than it has been, but it has 

 changed in character. Where formerly 

 the stock was wanted for planting by the 

 purchaser, it now generally is wanted by 

 him for sale again ; in a great many 

 cases he already has his orders by ones 

 and twos and dozens when he buys by 

 hundreds and thousands. 



In the Landscape. 



A use of the peony, which has as yet 

 hardly begun to develop, is in landscape 

 work. For mass effects there is no flower 

 to equal it, and this use will become im- 

 portant as soon as quantities of the best 

 sorts can be had at reasonable figures. 

 Indeed, already prices are where they are 

 not an obstacle to those who appreciate 

 the peony at its true worth for landscape 

 effect. The nomenclature is a matter of 

 importance to the landscape man, be- 

 cause if in his own nursery he has not 

 enough of the variety needed, he wants 

 to know that he will get the identical 

 sort when he orders elsewhere. This mat- 

 ter is gradually being straightened out. 

 rConcluded on pate 53.1 



