2 
BUENA VISTA GARDENS 
THE PEONY 
The Herbaceous Peony is now generally regarded as the best and most 
popular of hardy plants. II is found in every garden, from the single 
clump in the humblest dooryard to the rare and choice varieties in the 
amateur’s collection,—a splendid spectacle, in great masses and broad vis¬ 
tas, within the millionaire’s estate. Its popularity has increased by leaps 
and bounds since the new and improved varieties liave been developed and 
become known. 
The Peony of to-day, with its enormous blooms, six to ten inches 
in diameter, with three and four foot stems, the blooms of every conceiv¬ 
able shade and blending of colors, many as sweetly scented as the most 
fragrant rose, and outranking this queen of flowers in size, variety and 
delicacy of coloring, arc real spellbinders to those who first behold them. 
It is the hardiest of all flowers, having proved absolutely hardy in 
the most severe climate of the United States. No plant is easier to grow, 
the Peony being practically free from insect pests. Its care is almost that 
of a burdock in comparison with the rose. Nor does the Peony require 
renewing every year or two, like the rose. Once planted, it will with very 
little care grow and thrive for many years, making it the cheapest plant 
to set out. Therefore good varieties should be used and liberal plantings 
made. 
By including the extreme early and extreme late varieties in a collec¬ 
tion, the blooming season can be extended over six or seven weeks. In 
1917 our first bloom on Tenuifolia opened May 27th and the first 10 days 
in July Enchanteress, Mmc. Fould, Mine. Camille Banccl, Mmc. Boulanger, 
Martha Bulloch, Mireilla, Dorchester, Bed Cross, Mine. Loise Mere, Etta, 
Ornament des Massifs, and other late varieties were producing fine flow¬ 
ers, and on July 14th I cut and shipped good blooms from Richardson’s 
Grandiflora and Rubra Superba. 
The following article on Hie Peony from the pen of Frank A. Waugh, 
Professor of Landscape Gardening, Massachusetts Experimental Station 
and Horticultural College, appeared in the Woman’s Home Companion: 
“The Magnificent Peony—The Peony has achieved a sort of special 
vogue in Ihc last few years, and while this seems to he confined somewhat 
to connoisseurs and collectors, it must certainly spread to gardeners and 
plant-lovers generally. The Peony is one of the most magnificent of herba¬ 
ceous plants, one of the most hardy, one of the most permanent. In fact, 
permanency is the key-note of Peony-culture. IL requires two or three 
years for the plants to become established, and first-rate effects cannot be 
expected sooner; however, once established, it is good for many years to 
come. The flowers arc almost as fragrant as roses, and in our climate 
have greater perfection of form and color. The plants are free from in- 
