August, 1922 
69 
PYRETHRUMS FOR FORMAL AND INFORMAL GARDENS 
The Pyrethrums in Both Single and Double Forms Make 
A Colorful Contribution at Peony-Time 
JOHN L. REA 
A PLANT altogether too seldom met 
with in our gardens, and one worthy 
a far wider recognition is the pyre- 
thrum. One member of this great branch 
of the genus chrysanthemum, to which so 
many of the daisy-like flowers belong, the 
old Feverfuge, more commonly “Feverfew” 
now-a-days, has long been known to our 
American gardens and actually furnished 
our ancestors with the basic ingredient of 
the strong bitter tea they brewed for use in 
the treatment of fevers. Another near rel¬ 
ative did yeoman service, along with the 
gay colored coleus and the other so-called 
foliage plants in those unregretted (Shall I 
say Victorian?) flower beds of not so long 
ago. With both of these we are all more or 
less familiar. The member of the family 
to which I more particularly wish to draw 
attention is the pyrethrum roseum of the 
botanists, a native of far Persia, which is 
apparently living down its somewhat un¬ 
savory historical connection and taking at 
last an honored place in our beds and 
borders. I say unsavory advisedly, for, if 
A vase of single and double py¬ 
rethrums makes an excellent house- 
decoration. The flowers last long in 
water and keep their color 
sian cousin, a change for which I am not 
sorry, for while I recognize the usefulness 
of the flower in its commercial state yet, as 
it has become a great favorite of mine, I 
prefer that it forswear the old association. 
The plant is by. no means an absolute 
newcomer to the garden. As far as my own 
knowledge goes, however, it can hardly, in 
respect to American gardens at least, be 
called an old-fashioned flower. It was not 
at any rate, so far as I can discover, grown 
in the old gardens hereabouts. In Europe 
it has been a favorite for a longer time. 
One is likely to find with some surprise that 
the catalogues of the great seed and plant 
houses of England and the Continent carry 
long descriptive lists of named varieties of 
this flower. The beautiful colored illustra¬ 
tions which most of these foreign catalogues 
contain help to give an idea of the great 
variety of form and the wealth of color the 
hybridisers have succeeded in producing. 
There are several reasons why we do not 
find more of these forms common to our 
(Continued on page 80 ) 
To be appreciated, pyrethrums or 
feverfews, should be massed against 
a background of green foliage, as in 
this grape arbor planting 
the truth must be told, it is this flower, dried 
and ground into a powder, which has long 
furnished the Persian insect powder of com¬ 
merce. At present, however, a closely re¬ 
lated species of Caucasian origin, because 
its flowers all open more nearly at the same 
time, is largely taking the place of its Per¬ 
