After the blooming season cut all the blossom stems back to the leaves for looks. Do not cut the leaf stalk back until about the middle of September. By that time the plant is dormant, and all top growth can be removed with perfect safety.
Most of us are willing to spend this time and labor if we get results and to get the best results with peonies we must have good varieties. Of named peonies there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 varieties. Large collections now catalogue all the way from 250 to 500 sorts. From such collections it is hard for those not thoroughly familiar with the merits of the varieties to make an intelligent selection of moderate priced peonies for a small planting. For people so situated I make the following suggestion of varieties:
White: Candissima, Festiva Maxima, Duchess de Nemours, Duke of Wellington, Couronne d'Or, Queen Victoria, Avalanche, Madam de Verneville, Mons Dupont, Marie Lemoine.
Pink: Edulis Superba, Model de Perfection, Monsieur Jules Elie, Livingston, Mathilde de Roseneck, Alexander Dumas.
Light Pink: Eugene Verdier, Delicatissima, Marguerite Gerard, Dorchester Eugene Verdier.
Red: Richard Carvel, Felix Crousse, Meissonier, Rachel, Delachii, Purpurea Superba and Rubra Superba.
So much for the old peonies. Now to the new ones. And the question naturally comes, why any new ones? With over 2,000 varieties shouldn't we be satisfied? No! Many of the varieties catalogued might be eliminated, and we should be the gainer thereby. I believe I am safe in saying that if the present list were cut down to 300 sorts it would cover all the varieties worth while. And there is such a great chance for improvement! So many beautiful varieties coming to us of late years beckon us on. Crousse, Dessert and Lemoine have set the pace, and we of America will not be left behind.
Looking up the rows of a bed of our seedlings three years after transplanting. The white variety in the centre of the picture is Frances Willard, considered by us one of the world's best whites. At the time this picture was taken, the flowers were just opening, so one gets no idea of the size of the blooms after they open.
Either eighteen or nineteen years ago my father definitely set about the bringing forth of a line of new peonies. For years he had been experimenting with seedling apples. His immense collection of peonies gave him the idea of producing something better along that line. A great bed was planted out from which to collect seed. Hundreds of the best varieties obtainable were planted in this bed, two of each variety, with a very liberal use of the three varieties, Edulis Superba, Fragrans and Triumph de l'Ex. de Lille. Some twelve varieties of the most vigorous singles of all colors were also used. Bees and the elements were allowed to do the cross-fertilizing. In the fall of 1899 the first seed, amounting in all to about a peck, was harvested and planted. This seed was allowed to dry and was planted just before it froze up, directly into the field where the plants were to remain and bloom.