A Peony of the Rose variety 
beautiful plants is in keeping with the care we give to 
them and the curb to our impatience to see everything we 
plant rushing into a riot of bloom. Again, if the Peonies 
you plant this September should blossom next season with 
but an indifferent quality of flowering, do not feel that you 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
SDAA. AEST ae i ete 
s of the herbaceous Peonies blooming in profusion 
September, 1912 
have been deceived in your hopes, for Peonies have a trick 
of not putting their best bloom foremost until they are quite 
ready to dazzle the garden world. Many plants that pro- 
duce poor flowers the first season come forward the third 
with a luxurious wealth of color, a glad surprise to the 
garden-maker whose faith has not remained unshaken in 
the traditions of the plant. 
Probably the desire to have varieties not to be found in 
our neighbor’s garden often leads one into mistakes in 
selecting varieties for planting. It would be far better to 
try to learn what varieties are best suited to the section of 
the country where one’s garden is located than to experi- 
ment, at least without asking competent advice on the sub- 
ject. There may, for instance, be certain varieties that 
would prove themselves to be prolific bloomers in Penn- 
sylvania, but which might produce but a scant number of 
blossoms in New England or in the Middle West. For- 
tunately, however, the garden-maker will find it quite safe 
to take the advice of reliable nurserymen on this subject, 
and the garden-beginner lacking experience in the matter 
could scarcely do better than to decide, in a general way, 
the main characteristics, such as color, form and fragrance 
of the Peonies he desires for planting, leaving the selection 
of exact varieties to the nurseryman who supplies his need. 
A careful study of the Peony catalogues will be both profit- 
able and interesting, and one can learn much therefrom, as 
the modern catalogue has come to be almost a condensed 
horticultural handbook of plant varieties. One might also 
bear in mind that a neighbor’s garden, without a word from 
the neighbor himself, as a record of his plants should not 
be taken as an infallible guide, for the reason of the extraor- 
dinary way Peonies now and then have of defying the sea- 
2 Se ae 
