Garden notes : descriptive notes on visits to foreign gardens. No. 7, A visit with A. Dessert [to] Chenonceaux, France / issued by Lee R. Bonnewitz.

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THE BEST OF DESSERT'S NEW INTRODUCTIONS

From the first day of my trip to Europe, I looked forward
with very great pleasure to my visit with Dessert, who is
one of the greatest originators of new varieties of Peonies
the world has ever seen, and I was so much interested in
his garden that I made three visits to it.

The first was made immediately after my visit with
Denis, the celebrated amateur Iris grower, and my object
was to see the Tree Peonies, and to see also the famous
Chenonceaux chateau. Unfortunately there had been a very
untimely freeze in France in the late spring and the Tree
Peonies were a complete failure, but my trip was a great
success for I met M. Dessert and his famous daughter, Mar-
celle. I say “famous” because her father has named one
of his good Peonies in her honor, and so her name is repeated
in thousands of gardens by flower lovers who do not know
that they are speaking the name of Dessert’s only child.
The father and daughter live together in a typical French
home, surrounded by a walled garden of three or four acres,
and here I met them and enjoyed their hospitality.

Chenonceaux is a very small, one-street, town, so small
in fact that when on my second trip from Paris, on going
to Cook’s office and asking for a railroad ticket to Chenon-
ceaux, I was told that it was not on a railroad. But I kne^v
better for I had made my other trips on the train and so
was able to convince the agent and get a ticket. Chenon-
ceaux is one of the chateau towns, and Cooks’ usually have
tourists visit it on one of their two or three day automobile
trips which includes several other chateau towns.

M. Dessert has originated over thirty double Chinese
Peonies, in addition to which he has to his credit several
good Single and Japanese sorts. For years the world has
thought that THERESE was his greatest triumph, but. two
years ago and again last year his newer variety, JEANNOT,
produced wonderful bloom in my garden, and I am told that
this year it kept up its record, so it may later be recognized
as his greatest introduction. It is fortunate that JEANNOT
is a very late variety for that is what the Peony world needs,
and in addition to its lateness, it not only has marvelous

quality, but it is apparently as good in holding its quality
as ELWOOD PLEAS, which I believe now holds the record
for endurance. Of course I should tell you that the color of
the new favorite is dainty pink, or really pink and white, and
it pleases us late in the season for the same reason that his
older variety, UMBELLATA ROSEA, pleases us earlier in
the season. I do not believe that UMBELLATA ROSEA is
known as it should be, for it is the very best in its class,
and sometime when a Peony show is held early enough to
exhibit its bloom, I expect it to take the highest honors. I
cannot help wondering if the Peony Society members who
sent in low votes on UMBELLATA ROSEA were not voting
on some inferior variety under this name. At any rate, M.
Dessert has great reason to be proud, both of his extra early
and extra late varieties.

THERESE is a world favorite, and instead of becoming
cheaper with the years, it has increased in price and now
sells at about three times as much as it did ten years ago.
Quality is the only thing which enables it to make such a
record. Its color is lilac-pink and its size and shape are as
near perfect as any enthusiast could wish.

Within the past two years Dessert has placed six new
varieties on the market, AUGUSTE DESSERT, RENEE
MARIE, CLEMENCEAU, CANDEUR, ARLEQUIN and
PERRETTE. I have all these varieties growing in my
garden but I am not ready to pass judgment upon them yet,
but I hope that at least one of them may be in the
JEANNOT-TLIERESE class. This year he has four new
varieties, ELISA, LIBELLULE, MEDALON and RITA and
I have purchased all of them on my faith in M. Dessert.

SOUV. DE LOUIS BIGOT, RAOUL DESSERT,
MADAME JULES DESSERT and GINETTE, which are all
older varieties, are entitled to enter any world contest for
both quality and beauty. The first, SOUV. DE LOUIS
BIGOT, has the same wonderful true pink which is admired
so much in Richardson’s WALTER FAXON ; in especially
good seasons RAOUL DESSERT has shown greater size and
equal quality with SOLANGE ; MADAME JULES DES-
SERT, a wonderful pink and white, flat, wide-opening bloom
has won great honors at the shows of the Northwest Peony
and Iris Society; and many times I have seen GINETTE
equal THERESE in size and beauty. All of these deserve
the best of care in our Peony gardens for they are able to
make records for us.

Of course not all his introductions can have the same
quality, and we do not wish them to have. At the Detroit

show several years ago VICTOIRE DE LA MARNE and
aVIATEUR REYMOND attracted very favorable notice,
but since that time they have not been prominent at any of
our shows. Not only is their size remarkable but I found in
talking with M. Dessert that he is very fond of their color,
which is an amaranth red, and he has given his own name
to a new variety with very similar coloring.

MARCELLE DESSERT is a white variety which is
remarkable for the depth of its petals and the looseness of its
bloom. TOURANGELLE is one of the sorts that must be
coaxed to show how beautiful it is, and its buds must be
covered with heavy, thick paper bags as they begin to unfold
and the bags must not be removed until the bloom is in a
well shaded room. When this is done, however, the owner
becomes enthusiastic and is apt to talk of ethereal coloring,
heavenly beauty and transcendent loveliness.

M. MARTIN CAHUZAC has earned the name of the
'‘Black Peony,” for when I ask the male visitor in my
garden which bloom I shall cut for him, I very often get the
reply, “Let me have one of those black ones.” Of course,
it is not really black, but growing among the white and
light pink varieties the contrast is so great that it is natural
for the visitor to think of it as black. Its color is most
attractive to men. If you want to plant a garden to grov/
flowers for cutting to please men, be liberal in your planting
of CAHUZAC.

I am not sure that LAURA DESSERT is the best yellow
Peony in the w^orld, but I am sure there is no better yellow^
one, and I feel that a seed from this variety is most likely to
grow into the plant which will win the One Hundred Dollar
Harrison Memorial Prize for a better yellow Peony. All
Peony enthusiasts are anxious to see a better yellow Peony
than we now have.

ROSA BONHEUR is a low-growing, delicate pink Peony
and is, I believe, the slowest growing variety originated by
Dessert. There is a splendid demand for it all the time.
AURORE has exactly the colors you would expect it to have
vdien you think of its name.

ESTAFFETTE, when planted in full sun and allowed
to grow" naturally, has produced a perfect fountain-shaped
plant, vdiose large pink blooms held on uniformly drooping
stems, made the prettiest picture I have ever had in my
garden.

MADAME MANCHET is not as good as JEANNOT but
its virtues are its extreme late blooming season, good size

and splendid keeping quality. The market grower will
want it for supplying tine blooms very late in the season.
It lias a splendid shade of pink, better I think than that
in LIVINGSTONE (Crousse) whose virtue also is late
blooming.

SUZETTE always makes me think of a bright light in a
dark room. I can feel its warmth and brightness. MADAME
DE TREYERAN is for cut flowers and it will stand the
closest inspection, but it is not a landscape variety.
ROSETTE is a splendid companion for UMBELLATA
ROSEA. I am not sure that it is an improvement upon the
older variety, but I believe it is one or two days later, and
so will have a place of its own to fill.

M. Dessert was very fortunate in .selecting a very high
grade seedling to name in honor of his wife, and MADAME
AUGUSTE DESSERT, although placed on the market over
twenty years ago still ranks among the very good Peonies.
The plant is erect growing and the bloom is violet-rose in
color and semi-double in form.

GERMAINE BIGOT, although twenty years old, shows
some of the splendid quality and coloring which the world
has so much admired in the two very new varieties, PRESI-
DENT WILSON and JEANNOT. ‘in looking at the new
favorites my mind instantly reverts to GERMAINE BIGOT
with the thought that it is probably in their ancestral line.

EUGENE BIGOT is another of Dessert’s oldest introduc-
tions, going back nearly thirty years, and I have heard some
enthusiasts speak of it as a .splendid red. I think KARL
ROSENFIELD, PHILIPPE RIVOIRE, MARY BRAND and
MADAME GAUDICHAU are very much better, but the
Peony world is not unanimous in this decision.

PETITE RENEE is not only Dessert’s greatest novelty,
but is also one of the world’s sensational varieties. Its color
is a peculiarly pleasing shade of pink, and vdiile the main
central stems show nearly full double flowers, the lateral
stems at the same time show perfect Japanese blooms. I am
sure its virtues will result in a much higher rating for this
variety in the next symposium.

DR. H. BARNSBY, DISTINCTION, LA FONTAINE,
ODETTE and POMPONETTE do not seem to me to be of
quite as high quality as the ones I have mentioned, but I
will give them further time to show their worth for I have
such a very high regard for M. Dessert that I know he
believes them to be worth while.

A PRIZE WINNING VARIETY

MARGUERITE DESSERT, CLAIRETTE, EGLANTINE,
LA FIANCEE, LUCIENNE, L ’ETINCELANTE, MADE-
LEINE GAUTHIER, PERLE BLANCHE and THE BRIDE,
are all Single varieties with ratings high enough to entitle
them to admission to any garden. I find that Singles are
gaining in favor every year.

On two of my visits I met M. Dessert’s favorite niece and
he has shown his regard for her by using her name for two
of his introductions, his largest Single, MARGUERITE
DESSERT, and his very newest one, RITA, this being
Marguerite’s pet name. Unfortunately I did not get to see
this variety in bloom.

I will never forget any of my Chenonceaux visits and
the memory of the first one will remain for a peculiar reason
of its own. I left Dessert’s garden and went over to the
chateau for an hour or so, and when I returned, as I was
quite warm, M. Dessert asked me to have a cool drink. He
brought out a bottle of Chenonceaux white wine, and as the
wane at Denis’ had produced no bad results, I did not hesi-
tate to try this also. But soon I found my head swimming
and I did not feel at all like Lee Bonnewitz, and as it was
time to go to the train I began to doubt my ability to get
to the station. M. Dessert wanted to call a carriage but I
realized that vigorous exercise might help me to keep control
of myself, and so I started out on a brisk walk, and by
pinching myself and concentrating all my thoughts on the
necessity of reaching the railroad station, I finally made my
train all right. But on my succeeding visits I knew enough
to let the “white wine” alone. M. Dessert was quite
amused by my experience for he told me that Chenonceaux
is particularly proud of its wine. However, I prefer to spend
my money for its Peonies which I am sure have given it far
more fame than has its wine.

The next issue of this series of Garden Notes will cover
a report of my visits to the Iris Gardens of M. Millet and
of Cayeaux and Le Clerc.

LEE R. BONNEWITZ.

Van Wert, Ohio, August 18, 1922.

(Second of a series of Garden Notes on visits to
prominent gardens of France and England )