May, i 9 i 6 
29 
it thrives even in the northern¬ 
most regions of Siberia. 
The European Pceonia of¬ 
ficinalis is of quite as ancient 
lineage as the Oriental Sho 
Yo. But unfortunately, rec¬ 
ords were not kept in Europe 
as they were in Asia, and tra¬ 
dition and legendary tales 
furnish its only history. It is 
certain, however, that this 
variety gave the genus its 
classic name, for according 
to the legend this plant is the 
one received direct from the 
hands of a goddess, by Pceon, 
the physician who healed the 
wounds of the god Mars, suf¬ 
fered by him in the Trojan 
war. 
To sum it all up, this particular plant was regarded among 
the ancients as one of the wonders of the whole creation—and 
that quite apart from its loveliness of bloom. In addition to 
its physical curative properties it had marvelous occult powers. 
A small piece worn at the neck as a charm protected the 
wearer from the most potent enchantments, and all demons 
avoided its locality with scrupulous care. And so to this day 
more than one old dooryard is guarded by a venerable “piney” 
that was planted long ago for the purpose of making the place 
uninhabitable for this gentry—and immune to all forms of be¬ 
witchment. 
But all of this is only the romance of this veritable flower 
monarch, and helps not at all in the selection and planting and 
care of any particular plant. To grow peonies we must know 
peonies—not just know yarns and tales about them. 
Colors and Cutting 
Very well. Suppose we start with color, this seeming to 
have been the earliest 
distinction recognized, just 
as it is today the most 
important. How many 
colors are there? And 
what are they? 
Through nearly every 
shade of red to blush and 
white we have them now, 
and in exquisitely rose- 
tinged mauves that show 
the purple strain vitally ac¬ 
tive. White, pure and glis¬ 
tening, and white flushed 
with pink so faint it is 
scarce believable; white 
tinted with yellow; pink 
suffused with yellow; yel¬ 
low itself; and salmon 
shades too lovely to be de¬ 
scribed — all these are the 
colors that have come to be 
since the Sho Yo came to 
our land and into the hands 
of the gardeners of the 
Occident. 
Nearly all of the lighter and more delicate colors fade ap¬ 
preciably after opening, if exposed to the heat and glare of 
the sun’s rays. For garden effect, therefore, it is wiser to 
limit the selection to those varieties which are least susceptible 
to this bleaching process. But for cutting this is not so im¬ 
portant, because if the buds are cut at the proper time and 
brought indoors, even the most delicate shades hold true as 
long as the bloom is fresh. 
Commercial growers of the peony consider the proper time 
for cutting to be when the first petals begin to open back, and 
their practice of instantly dropping the severed bud into a 
bucket of water should always be followed, if best results are 
expected. Have the water close at hand and set each flower 
stem down into it. If it is deep enough to immerse the entire 
stem, so much the better; but of course the flowers themselves 
should not be allowed to fall into it. No flowers are im¬ 
proved by a complete ducking. 
The reasons for this instant 
submergence are twofold: the 
immense size of the flower 
and its very open stem. By 
reason of its size it gives off 
a large quantity of moisture 
in transpiration, therefore it 
must not be deprived of moist¬ 
ure for any length of time, 
else this transpiring process 
will take from the tissues 
themselves. By reason of its 
open stem air passes into it 
as soon as it is severed from 
the plant, and once its stem 
and tissues are air filled the 
flower is permanently at a dis¬ 
advantage. 
Buds cut at the proper 
time and dropped into water immediately may be allowed to 
open as they will indoors usually. Commercial growers open 
them in a cool, dark place; but this is of course unnecessary 
under ordinary home conditions. Please remember that the 
time of cutting is not the same with all varieties, for some do 
better if cut early and some if cut late. It is always safer 
to err on the side of waiting a bit late than to cut prema¬ 
turely, for a peony bud cut before its time, before it is prop¬ 
erly matured, will simply stop where it is and never be any¬ 
thing but a bud. Note, too, that for the plant’s sake a great 
quantity of leafage should not be cut when the flowers are, 
for leaves are required by the plant in order that it may make 
the robust growth each season, below ground, that is neces¬ 
sary if it is to furnish the maximum quantity of flowers when 
the next summer arrives. 
Six Different Types 
The form of the blossom is regarded as more important 
by peony authorities now 
than the color, for as the 
flowers have progressed in 
doubling they have taken 
on six distinct shapes. 
So an artificial classifica¬ 
tion into six types was 
adopted in the exhaustive 
experiments begun at Cor- 
n e 11 University in 1904 
and carried on for some 
years. 
First comes the “single,” 
the anemone flowered 
peony, familiar to us all; 
then the “Japanese,” show¬ 
ing a blossom wherein the 
doubling process has just 
nicely started, and little 
remnants of anthers, still 
showing at the tips of the 
petaloids or small inner 
petals, reveal the method 
by which this process is 
carried on—namely, by the 
transformation of filaments 
and their topping anthers into regular petals. 
“Bomb” is the third—a distinct advance to the wholly 
double flower, with never a trace of anther on petaloid tip; 
“semi-double” comes next and is just a sort of general class 
where everything that doesn’t fit elsewhere is conveniently 
dumped. The most definite characteristic in this division is 
lack of uniformity in the transformation of the filaments into 
petals, so that petaloids of all widths and sizes are present in 
the same flower. 
Following this general, all-embracing class comes that desig¬ 
nated as “crown,” a name suggested by the form of the flower 
when the petaloids, though fully transformed, are distinctly 
different from the true petals, and a crown results. And last 
of all is “rose”—the fully developed and regularly formed 
flower—the type most commonly chosen and therefore most 
(Continued on page 58) 
Proiitinent among the dou¬ 
ble herbaceous sorts is the 
flesh pink Grandiflora rosea 
Various steps in the transition from single to double 
blooms are illustrated by these Japanese varieties 
