TH6 BonncwiTZ peonies 
Van Wert has had a most excellent peony season 
this year. We had exactly the kind of weather which 
it takes to make good peonies—bright sunshine— 
dark clouds—spring showers and heavy rain and 
then we have had also plenty of the kind of weather 
which it takes to test the peony buds and the open 
flowers and to show also just exactly what the 
flowers are good for and the things for which they 
are not quite good enough. I enjoyed every day 
spent in the garden going up and down the rows 
and deciding the merits of each individual variety. 
I have been growing peonies for over thirty-five 
years and I am more than ever convinced that the 
landscape value of any variety is more important to 
the average buyer than its value on the tables of 
any National Peony Show. For every person who 
attends a National or a District Peony Show there 
are thousands of men and women who get joy out 
of their peonies as they see them growing in their 
own gardens and on the borders of their own lawns. 
Comparatively few of the thousands of named 
peonies have both perfect landscape value and first 
prize winning ability. A well grown JUBILEE or 
SARAH BERNHARDT can be taken with great 
confidence to any peony show anywhere, but neither 
of them appear to advantage on a border or in a 
garden. On the other hand, EUGENE VERDIER 
and DAVID HARUM have been able to withstand 
all the storms in my garden, but they have never 
won a first prize in any peony show. ALICE HARD¬ 
ING. PHYLLIS KELWAY, AUGUSTE DESSERT, 
ISANI GIDUI, PHILIPPE RIVOIRE AND TA- 
MATE-BOKU belong to that select group which are 
at home in every home and garden and yet can com¬ 
pete for highest honors in any Peony Show any¬ 
where. 
Double Varieties 
A. B. FRANKLIN (Franklin) . $10.00 
Mr. Franklin is more fortunate than several other 
peony growers who have given their names to 
peonies of their own origination. This one is a 
large, white variety, full double, opening a beau¬ 
tiful blush-pink and eventually fading to pure 
white. It is in the class with Hans P, Sass and 
Tourangelle, both of which have the highest 
records of quality and beauty in the very lightest, 
blush-pink varieties. 
ADOLPHE ROUSSEAU (Dessert & Mechin, 1890) 
—8.5 ... 75 
Very dark red and of very good quality. An old, 
but very valuable peony with stiff stems for the 
landscape. 
