It is a matter of regret that varieties of the better kinds of Moutans are not generally grown on their own roots, and still more so that the stock in common use should not even be the type Tree Pæony, but one of the herbaceous kinds, so that we have plants of a hard-wooded shrub worked on a thing as soft as a Dahlia root. This is probably the reason why they are so difficult to establish, and so slow to grow, especially on light soils, even when their beds have been made deep and liberally enriched with what one judges to be the most gratifying comfort. Every now and then, just before blooming time, a plant goes off all at once, smitten with sudden death. At the time of making my collection I was unable to visit the French nurseries where these plants are so admirably grown, and whence most of the best kinds have come. I had to choose them by the catalogue description--always an unsatisfactory way to any one with a keen eye for colour, although in this matter the compilers of foreign catalogues are certainly less vague than those of our own. Many of the plants therefore had to be shifted into better groups for colour after their first blooming, a matter the more to be regretted as Pæonies dislike being moved.
The other half of the triangular bit of Pæony ground--the pointed end--is given to the kinds I like best of the large June-flowered Pæonies, the garden varieties of the Siberian _P. albiflora_, popularly known as Chinese Pæonies. Though among these, as is the case with all the kinds, there is a preponderance of pink or rose-crimson colouring of a decidedly rank quality, yet the number of varieties is so great, that among the minority of really good colouring there are plenty to choose from, including a good number of beautiful whites and whites tinged with yellow. Of those I have, the kinds I like best are--
Hypatia, pink. Madame Benare, salmon-rose. The Queen, pale salmon-rose. Léonie, salmon-rose. Virginie, warm white. Solfaterre, pale yellow. Edouard André, deep claret. Madame Calot, flesh pink. Madame Bréon. Alba sulfurea. Triomphans gandavensis. Carnea elegans (Guerin). Curiosa, pink and blush. Prince Pierre Galitzin, blush. Eugenie Verdier, pale pink. Elegans superbissima, yellowish-white. Virgo Maria, white. Philomèle, blush. Madame Dhour, rose. Duchesse de Nemours, yellow-white. Faust. Belle Douaisienne. Jeanne d'Arc. Marie Lemoine.
