yiii 



PEONIES 



W:TH all her fickleness. Dame Fash- 

 ion seems never to have deserted 

 the Peony. Other garden flowers 

 may have heen held in esteem one decade to 

 be slighted the next — even the exquisite Nar- 

 cissus was once neglected — ^but like the lovely 

 Rose, the Peony remains ever popular. To a 

 certain extent the Peony owes much of its en- 

 during favor to its decorative foliage, although 

 its beautiful flowers are, in themselves, quite 

 enough to give this plant the distinction it 

 commands and the place it holds in our hearts. 

 We consider it an old-fashioned flower, but the 

 term only endears it the more to us for it is 

 ever new-fashioned as well. And what a 

 wealth of color its wondrous blossoms present 

 to charm the senses, and what perfect fra- 

 grance 1 There are the sweetly perfimied but 



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