The Peony Month— By J. Eliot Coit §s£U 



SEPTEMBER FOR PLANTING AMERICA'S COMING GARDEN FLOWER— WHY THE HERBACEOUS PEONY 

 SURPASSES THE ROSE — WHAT VARIETIES TO CHOOSE AND HOW TO RAISE PERFECT PLANTS 



Photographs by the author, except No. 107 by Henry Troth 



97. The sorl of root 

 to buy — not cheap, but 

 the best. Sure to grow 



SEPTEMBER is the one month of the year 

 in which peonies can be planted with a 

 certainty of success. They commence growth 

 so early in the spring that it is only by a chance 

 that they can then be moved early enough, 

 and there is always a 

 loss of flowering power 

 after a spring shift. 



WHY GROW PEONIES ? 



There are at least 

 seven good reasons for 

 the popularity of the 

 herbaceous peony: 



1. It is easy to grow; 

 anybody can raise glo- 

 rious peonies with less 

 trouble than it takes to 

 grow good roses. 



2. A peony well es- 

 tablished is as perma- 

 nent a feature in the 

 garden as is desirable 

 in a herbaceous plant. 



3. Peonies are per- 

 fectly hardy wherever 



apples can be grown, passing through the 

 most severe winters without injury. 



4. The blooms are large, showy, of various 

 forms, and in any shade of color from white to 

 purple. 



5. Almost all varieties are fragrant. 



6. It is practically free from disease and 

 insects. No spraying or dusting or hand 

 picking of worms is necessary. 



7. It is equally successful as a cut flower 

 and for artistic landscape effects. 



Opposed to this array of advantages, there 

 are two objections, which, however, dwindle 

 into insignificance by contrast. 



1. It multiplies slowly. 



2. In some of the weak-stemmed double 

 varieties the flowers are badly beaten down 

 by rains. This last objection does not count 

 for much because singles generally stand up 

 well, and many doubles have developed strong 

 stems, while those which have not can easily 

 be supported. 



HOW AND WHERE TO PLANT 



The peony will grow on almost any well- 

 drained, fertile soil, but it does its best on a 

 rather heavy, moist loam. Don't make the 

 mistake of planting your peonies under trees, 

 as many suggest, for, while the blooms like a 

 moderate shade and will brighten up sombre 

 nooks, the ravenous tree roots will be sure to 

 steal their food and weaken the plant. And 

 don't make the mistake of planting in swampy 

 land. A well-drained slope leading to a 

 swamp will do, however. The roots want 

 plenty of water, but air is equally necessary. 

 If possible, prepare the land several months 

 beforehand by digging to a depth of two feet 

 and working in plenty of well-rotted compost 



or cow manure. If your soil inclines to be 

 sticky, work in street sweepings or sifted coal 

 ashes. 



Make the ground rich, for the peony is what 

 gardeners term a "gross feeder." One Eng- 

 lish amateur gives his peonies a mulch of 

 three inches of cow manure each year, be- 

 sides large quantities of manure water, and 

 has "never yet discovered the limit of a 

 peony's greedy appetite." 



September is the month for planting pe- 

 onies. Have the roots arrive from the nursery 

 about the 15th, and plant them at once not 

 nearer than three feet apart, with the crowns 



98. One of the oldest and still one of the best her- 

 baceous peonies is festiva maxima of the nurseries. 

 Double white, with a few carmine streaks in the centre 



from two to three inches below the surface; 

 press the soil well about the roots and leave 

 level on top. If in your latitude the ther- 

 mometer drops to zero or below, mulch the soil 

 in November with leaf mold or muck. As 

 soon as the ground thaws in the spring the 

 little tender white feeding roots will start out 

 in quest of food and water. 



Herbaceous peonies can be moved in the 

 spring, but it surely means the destruction of 

 these young rootlets, and consequently another 

 year added before the plant will come into 

 full bloom. If strong roots are properly 

 planted they will probably throw up one or 

 perhaps two bloom shoots the first summer, 

 but the buds may as well be pinched out and 

 all the strength allowed to go to the maturing 

 of as many leaves as possible. Some people 

 recommend feeding the plants with liquid 

 manure just before blooming time. This is 

 all right, but any apparent immediate benefit 

 will be due largely to the water, while the 

 plant food in solution will be mostly laid by 

 for next year. 



Peonies are gross drinkers as well as gross 

 feeders, and no one should try to raise speci- 

 men blooms without having a hose handy. 



After a clump is once well established it 

 will last for twenty years, and in some cases 

 fifty years. It is better, however, to take 

 them up, separate the roots and replant them 

 every seven or eight years. If this is not 



72 



done some varieties tend to die out in the 

 centre and form an irregular ring. 



The peony has one bad habit: the heavy 

 double flowers have a tendency to lop over on 

 the ground and get bespattered with dirt by 

 rain. On account of this the plants should 

 always have some support, preferably one 

 which consists of a ring of heavy galvanized 

 wire two feet in diameter, supported on three 

 legs three feet long, which can be pushed down 

 into the soil. This support will be invisible 

 a few feet away, will last many years, and can 

 be stored in the shed over winter. 



If you wish to grow extra large specimen 

 blooms for exhibition remove the side buds as 

 soon as they appear and throw all the strength 

 into the terminal bud, and don't fail to give 

 plenty of water. 



In a large collection set the plants from 

 three to four feet apart each way (according 

 to the vigor of the variety) , and preferably in 

 oblong beds containing three rows each. 

 These beds may be cut in the grass at the 

 side of the lawn. But don't forget to buy a 

 quantity of some tested standard sort and 

 plant freely about the porch and steps and 

 along the shrubbery border. And arrange 

 some large isolated clumps of a double white 

 variety in the bays of the shrubbery, with a 

 background of dark evergreens, if possible. 



WHY PEONIES SHOULD BE CUT IN THE BUD 



In order to enjoy the most delicate tints 

 the flowers should be allowed to open in the 



99. There are various forms of doubling. In 

 L'Avenir, a good semi-double pink, the stamens 

 have changed to petaloids instead of petals. (See 

 also Figs. 100 to 106 for comparisons of other stages) 





