Photo © Roger Bruce

threat

Time, the elements, and limited funding threaten Linwood Gardens. Given current resources, the severe structural problems of the century-old garden walls can be addressed only superficially, while structural deterioration continues. Eight-foot-high walls surround the vegetable garden; walls of equal height bound the north and south ends of the swimming pool enclosure and the formal garden and four-foot-high walls to the east frame the view of the Genesee Valley.

The most significant threat to the tree peony collection is the difficulty of propagation, given that only one specimen exists of some of the named varieties. Propagation requires grafting scions of the parent plant to herbaceous peony root stock in late August. The survival rate in the following spring averages thirty percent and some that survive the first year do not survive the second year. It can take two to three years after grafting for a plant to bloom.