BUENA VISTA GARDENS 
3 
sect-pests, and as hardy as the strongest trees. Given good soil and fer¬ 
tilizer, with reasonable drainage and water-supply, they will take care of 
themselves year after year, and year after year the flowers grow larger 
and more abundant. The foliage is also rich and green, adding its attrac¬ 
tions to the lawn. Single Peonies are particularly attractive, and should 
he included in every collection.” 
In presenting the following list of select and choice Peonies, I believe 
I am offering to you one of the largest collections of prize winners and 
rare varieties in America. 
As an amateur, I have for eighteen years given my individual atten¬ 
tion to growing and making a collection of Peonies. Neither time nor 
money has been spared to secure the world’s best varieties. The United 
States has been scoured and the gardens of all the great European Peony 
growers have been searched for choice novelties and Prize Winners. I 
have collected the most select and rare sorts from the best productions of 
such famous continental growers as Verdier, Guerin, Delache, Calot and 
Crousse, as well as the more recent introductions by the late Monsieur 
Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, France. My collection also includes the very 
host and latest of the noteworthy recent introductions by Monsieur A. 
Dessert, whose list of varieties forms one of the most important groups 
among the Peony families, as well as selections from all of the noted 
growers of Holland, Kelway and Barr of England, and Richardson, Hollis, 
Terry, Rosenfield and Brand of America. 
Manj' of the new varieties are now so scarce that it is impossible to 
secure, direct from the originators, enough plants to meet the growing de¬ 
mand, especially for the Dessert and Lemoine’s rare sorts, Therese, Le 
Cygne, Solange, Tourangelle, Primevere, Raoul Dessert, Lamartine, Mine. 
Jules Dessert, La France, La Lorraine, Rosa Bonheur, Sarah Bernhardt, 
Enchanteresse, and many others. Some of the American varieties are also 
very scarce, there were not enough Martha Bullochs in existence last 
year to supply the demand, and I was unable to till some of my verv late 
orders for it, even at $25 each. Some of Richardson’s varieties are also 
equally scarce, such as Walter Faxon and Milton Hill, both of which are 
marvels of beauty. 
Although an amateur for many years working with these splendid 
flowers only as a hobby, constantly purchasing and importing direct from 
the originators, my reputation as a prize winner and for choice varieties 
in everything I grew, brought throngs of visitors to my garden, whose 
insistent clamor for my surplus prevented me from accumulating a large 
stock of the newer sorts. It was only through urgent requests by my 
visitors and friends that I consented in 1912 to become a professional and 
issue a catalogue, giving descriptions of the many different varieties and 
offer them to the public. It is impossible for any one to see all varieties 
in bloom, and at their best, unless lie make daily visits to the garden 
throughout the entire Peony season. 
