14 
House & Garden’s 
PEONIES FOR BEGINNER AND COLLECTOR 
Selections That Will Make An Ample Foundation For 
A Brilliant Display Each Spring 
/ T'HE garden without peonies is a 
1 contradiction in terms; it simply 
isn't, can’t be a garden. For the 
miracle of the peonies is a yearly re¬ 
freshment of soul and a delight to 
the eye that knows no equal. 
The last iris are cut. The late 
pink and yellow cottage tulips are 
gone. The border becomes a mass of 
billowy green—the glistening, metal¬ 
lic green of the peony leaves, the gay 
green of iris blades, the soft fuzzy 
greens of fox-gloves and larkspurs, 
the dainty green of the growing 
phloxes, the stiff, cold, forbidding lily 
stalks. Then the miracle slowly but 
surely takes place—the peonies begin 
to bloom! 
It can’t be described. One’s vo¬ 
cabulary simply won’t set down that 
picture. All one can say to the gar¬ 
dener who has no peonies, “Go with¬ 
out that pair of new shoes, argue your 
wife out of that new hat, but plant 
peonies this fall!” Enough for a start 
—say twelve—will cost you less than 
a pair of shoes at current prices, and 
for the price of a lady’s hat you can amaze 
the town. 
Peonies are among the easiest plants in the 
garden to care for and no conjurer’s art is 
required to make them grow. Begin with 
twelve this fall and order new types every year. 
Meanwhile, lest this text becomes an incoherent 
rhapsody, let us make some peony lists. These 
may not be perfect selections, but they are 
sufficient for a beginning. Or the gardener 
may easily procure the catalog of a specialist 
and choose his own varieties from those de¬ 
scribed therein. 
An inexpensive list 
would consist of the 
following: 
Boule de Neige— 
milk-w h i t e guards, 
center flecked with 
crimson, early mid- 
season; Couronne 
d’Or—pure white, yel¬ 
low stamens, tipped 
carmine, late; Due de 
Wellington—w h i t e 
guards, sulphur cen¬ 
ter, fragrant, late; 
Duchess d’Orleans— 
deep pink, salmon 
center, fragrant, mid¬ 
season ; La Coquette 
—1 i g h t pink, rose 
white collar, fragrant, 
mid-season; Louis 
Van H o u 11 e—deep 
carmine rose, fra¬ 
grant, late; Mme. Calot 
—pale hydrangea 
pink, fragrant, early; 
Delicatissima — pale 
lilac rose, mid-season; 
Emile Lemoine—r e d 
with silver tip, fra¬ 
grant, late; Dr. Bre- 
touneau—pale lilac 
rose, center tipped 
cream-white, fra- 
At the left 
is Festiva 
maxima and 
at the right 
M. Jules 
Elie 
Agnes Mary 
Kelway has 
borne as 
many as 
ISO blooms 
a season 
The peony bed in blossom 
pure white with a ring of 
is a place of striking beauty. Here is Couronne d’Or , 
yellow stamens around a central tuft of petals tipped 
with carmine 
grant, early mid-season; Comte de 
Paris—guards and collar violet rose, 
white-crimson crown, fragrant, mid¬ 
season; Princess Beatrice—guards and 
crown light violet rose, collar white, 
fragrant, mid-season. 
Should the gardener desire a col¬ 
lection of % the rarer varieties he might 
select the following. It represents a 
good selection of French and English 
types, with one American—Excelsior: 
James Kelway—rose-white chang¬ 
ing to milk-white, early mid-season; 
Excelsior—violet-p u r p 1 e, fragrant, 
early; Mireille—milk-white, center 
petals edged dark crimson, fragrant, 
very late; Livingstone—pale lilac-rose 
with silver tips, central petals flecked 
carmine; Simoune Chevalier—pale 
lilac-rose, collar cream-white, early; 
La Tendresse—milk-white guards, 
center flecked with crimson, early; 
Marguerite Gerard—very pale hy¬ 
drangea-pink, fading to white, late; 
Princess Maud—lilac-white guards, 
center amber-white, late; Albert 
Crousse—rose-white, flecked crimson, 
fragrant, late; Souvenir de l’Exposition, d’Bor- 
deaux—bluish violet-red, mid-season; Mme. 
Emile Lemoine—milk-white, mid-season; Fes¬ 
tiva Maxima—white with center marked 
crimson. 
The Japanese and single types are often 
preferred by peony lovers l>ecause they have 
a very distinct beauty of their own. In de¬ 
veloping the peony layout of a garden it is 
always advisable to try a few singles at least. 
They play the same role in relation to the ordi¬ 
nary peony types that single roses do to the 
Hybrid Teas and Hy¬ 
brid Perpetual roses; 
they are the Polyan- 
thas of the peony 
family. 
The following se¬ 
lection comes from 
English and Japanese 
sources: 
Jupiter—rosy ma¬ 
genta, medium tall, 
early; Geraldine— 
deep carmine-violet, 
mid-season; Lemon 
Q u e e n—pure white 
with cushion of pale 
yellow petals; George 
Alexander—deep ma¬ 
roon ; The Moor— 
purple-garnet, early: 
Gyps y—dark rose, 
mid-season; Cathedral 
—blush, center petals 
creamy; Albi flora, The 
Bride—pure white, a 
tall and free grower; 
Apple Blossom— 
blush-yellow in center 
petals; Crystal Queen 
—pure white; Austin 
Chamberlain — deep 
amaranth-red, early; 
Dragon’s Head— 
petals pale rose stripdd 
dark crimson. 
