lower 
Beautiful! 
W HILE the Peony is universally recognized as 
the “King of Perennial Flowers,” it is of the 
utmost importance to start with plants whose 
heritage is known to be strong and healthy. Practically 
all of your success for the first few years after Peonies 
are planted depends on the hidden flowering qualities 
of the roots you buy. To the average planter, all Peony 
roots look alike and will even produce stems and foliage, 
but to the Peony Specialist there is a vast difference in 
their productive blooming qualities. To know every 
whim and fancy of the temperamental Peony family 
requires experience such as we who have been growing 
them for over 30 years have gained. 
The winter of 1933-34 demonstrated, beyond our 
ability to tell, the extreme hardiness and desirability 
of the whole Peony family. What a gorgeous display 
they gave us this year! Let us take a lesson from their 
ability to “come through” and plant them freely wher¬ 
ever space allows. Prices are so reasonable when you 
consider the many blooms even one lonely and undis¬ 
turbed Peony gives us over a long period of years. But 
we must go on and tell just a few important details 
one should know before buying and planting Peonies. 
The Best Size of Root to Plant 
One of our most noted amateur authorities on 
Peonies has this to say: “What are called 1-year 
roots are the plants that have resulted from the 
divisions (slices of 3-year roots) of last year, but 
evidently the nurseryman can save himself money 
by selling the divisions at once to his customers 
without taking the trouble to replant and cultivate 
for a year. These freshly made divisions are very 
commonly offered in the trade, and at prices 
much below those for 1-year roots. The question 
is whether the purchaser is wise to take them and 
the subject is much debated among the growers. 
My own judgment on it is this: Where the ques¬ 
tion of price has to be very carefully considered 
and the question of time is a matter of indifference, 
the buyer may probably do well to buy divisions 
of the expensive sorts. But what he saves in 
money he loses in time, for, whereas a 1-year root 
will usually bloom well within two or three years 
after planting and will give some bloom the first 
year, a division cannot be expected to give good 
bloom for a considerably longer time. Also, the 
actual loss in plants is certain to be greater. 
“He who is tempted by the low price on divisions 
may well reflect that the Peony is a slow plant at 
best, and that the real values of time and money, 
when the time is reckoned in years, will bear 
careful thinking over.” 
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