PARK AND CEMETERY 
310 ^ 
PAEONIA FESTIVA MAXIMA. 
One of Peterson’s twelve prize specimen varieties. 
AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY EXHIBITION. 
The second annual meeting and exhibition of the 
American Peony Society was held in Chicago, June 
i6 and 17, and was doubly interesting as the largest 
and finest collection of peonies ever seen in this coun- 
try and as a showing of cut flowers that ranks with 
the annual display of carnations. The exhibit was 
displayed to excellent advantage in the big banquet 
hall of the Auditorium Hotel, on green-covered tables, 
and made a beautiful display. 
The Peterson Nursery, of Chicago, made the best 
use of their advantage as local exhibitors, by having 
the largest and finest collection, and carrying off nine 
out of thirteen first prizes. C. W. Ward, of New 
York, president of the society, made a good showing 
in spite of the disadvantage of a long shipment and 
period of waiting in cold storage before the exhibi- 
tion. He was awarded the prize for the largest and 
best collection of varieties, one flower each. 
Other exhibits that were especially attractive were E. 
A. Reeves’ magnificent first-prize Grandiflora rubra, 
the best 100 blooms, crimson ; Vaughan’s 100 best 
Festiva maxima, and Peterson’s best twelve specimen 
varieties that were, awarded the silver cup donated 
by Country Life in America. The twelve included in 
this collection were: Marie Lemoine, white; Festiva 
maxima, white ; Marie Calot, blush and white ; Golden 
Harvest, light pink ; Pottsii alba, baby pink ; Delicatis- 
sima, light pink ; Princess Beatrice, rose pink guard ; 
Livingstone, rose pink ; Modele de Perfection, rose ; 
Modeste Guerin, deep rose; Marechal MacMahon, red 
bomb ; Purpurea Delachei, deep red with stamens. 
The society is co-operating with the Horticultural 
Department of Cornell Lbfiversitv for the purpose of 
making a study of all varieties of peonies that it is 
possible to secure at the present time. This study is 
to extend over a sufficient period of years to enable 
the investigators to bring order out of the confusion 
which now exists in the naming of varieties. This 
part of the study aims to establish correct names by 
applying rules of nomenclature, and will furnish grow- 
ers with accurate descriptions of all authentic varieties. 
An effort will also be made to refer it to the species 
from which it appears to have been derived. Careful 
studies of varieties shall be made in order to determine 
the commercial values of the different kinds in order 
to make it possible to list fifty or sixty commercial va- 
rieties under names and descriptions. The testing field 
at Cornell has been planted with over 1,000 varieties, 
and is being carefully and systematically conducted 
under the direction of Prof. John Craig. 
In his annual address before the society President 
Ward spoke as follows of the landscape value of the 
peony : 
“Undoubtedly our favorite flower is one of the most ef- 
fective of all early flowering herbaceous plants for use in ex- 
tensive landscape plantings. It not only can be used in 
masses, producing grand color results, effectively lighting up- 
dark nooks and corners, but can also be interspersed among 
shrubbery, lending additional color to such groups. The 
plants when out of bloom are not very unsightly, as is the 
case with many other herbaceous flowers, but the deep fresh 
greens and bronzy greens of tfie peony foliage are maintained 
in general good condition throughout the greater portion of 
the season. The range of peony colors is unexcelled, com- 
prising almost all the shades of pink from the most delicate 
flesh tints to the deepest shades. The same may be said of 
white, crimson, purple and amaranth. It is weak, however, in 
yellow, as we have comparatively few sorts that might be 
termed yellow, and these are generally light in color, the 
guard petals being almost invariably white, and it cannot be 
said that there is as yet any true solid yellow peony. 
“Landscape architects should learn to know the peony bet- 
ter, and should become acquainted with the finer and more 
desirable sorts, and should use them more extensively here- 
after than they have in the past. I am quite certain that the 
peony often suffers in reputation by the use of common, un- 
desirable colors in classes of work where good, clean comple- 
mentary colors are needed and should be used ; and the peony 
will never take its proper place in landscape work until 
landscapers in general become better acquainted with the 
more desirable sorts and learn to know them as well as to 
use them.” 
A VERY SHOWY NATIVE MICHIGAN ANNUAL. 
The Cosmos, especially the early flowering type, 
has very justly become a popular annual, as it is one 
of our handsomest ornamentals. 
The plant I am to describe reminds me more of a 
Cosmos than any other plant, save that the ray flow- 
ers are a rich orange-yellow; the plant and its gen- 
eral appearance, size, and form and size of flower- 
heads all suggest the Cosmos, while it can be grown 
just as readily as that plant, and flowers about the 
same time as the early type of Cosmos. 
