Please note the time change for viewing our peonies on Saturday, June 10th. We will be open from 7:30 am to 3:30 PM due to the extreme heat! The late blooming peonies have yet to bloom but that can change quickly with the heat wave that has besieged us!
Thanks again to over 1,300 of you who stopped out to see our peonies on the June 2nd and 3rd Peony Field Days! Amazing to experience first hand what a couple days of 90 F and full sun does to peony blooms. What the fields looked like Friday morning versus Saturday afternoon was almost night and day. Corals started popping Saturday and even some mids started to show. Here are some pics taken Sunday, June 4th.
Petite Elegance wowed us with her peony blooms display.
Abalone Pearl was the first coral peony to bloom.
Pink Hawaiian Coral was the second coral peony to bloom.
Coral n’ Gold tied for the third coral peony to bloom.
Coral Supreme tied for the third coral peony to bloom.
Some of you were able to see one of our top five garden peonies, Etched Salmon. Etched Salmon was almost peak so I just had to take this photo!
We truly enjoyed meeting most of you and being able to talk peonies. Make sure to mark your calendars for Friday, June 9th and Saturday, June 10th from 9 am to 5 PM for another visit to Swenson Gardens Peony Field Days! I know a different group of peonies will be blooming and they are anxious to meet you.
Thanks again for all of you who visited the peonies today. Yes the weather was gorgeous even though the temps rocketed to 90 F around 3 PM. For Saturday, June 3rd, we will be open from 9 am to 5 PM. Please note we are not open on Sunday, June 4th. Appears some storms are appearing to the west of us over the next couple of hours but the weather forecast looks ok for tomorrow. If storms do develop, check our blog, Facebook or call 763-350-2051 for any last minute changes. So where are we at with blooms? The reds are still at peak including ‘Chocolate Soldier’ and others I posted yesterday. The new garden varieties that opened today include ‘Bess Bockstoce’ in first pic and ‘Petite Elegance’ (one of Becky’s favorites) in the second pic. There are other garden peonies that opened to, but we were quite busy today attending to gardeners in the fields.
Color wise we are still at 20% of peonies blooming in the fields. Corals are showing a bit of color and the intersectional hybrid peonies are finally starting to show. A few yellows started as well as Hillary in the photo below.
Knowing how crazy this bloom time has been this year, some of you have been calling, emailing and IM when is the best time to come out? We understand you want to know when the fields are at peak bloom, but as of now its looking like the 9th and 10th; however, that could change based on these above normal temps. Always hard to predict when we cannot guaranty the weather, especially temperatures. My suggestion is to still fill up the car and head out this way tomorrow as a week from now most of the early and early to mid varieties will be done. If you can only come out for one visit, you may want to plan for the 9th or 10th, but again this year its not a guaranty! No matter what you decide, we’d still love to visit with you and I know the peonies would like to see you too!
WOW what a day’s difference with the peonies blooming! Depending on which field and if the field is facing south, about 15-20% color is showing in the varieties. The great news though is that the ‘reds’ will be peaking tomorrow and Saturday. Remember my previous post about ‘Red Charm’? Well Red Charm is in peak which means some of the other reds like Red Grace, Christmas Velvet, America, Dad, Eliza Lundy and Burma Midnight are at peak or soon as well. The following pics were shot moments ago. First one is Red Charm, second is Red Grace and finally not to be out done by my lovely wife Becky from yesterdays post, is America.
For those of you who visited us last year, most of these were past peak so load up the car and head east, west, north and south to see these amazing peonies! Speaking of my last post, boots are not required for tomorrow. Today’s sun and wind really dried up some of the wet spots getting between the fields. I have been trying for years to get a good pic of ‘Laura Magnuson’. Very tough to photograph especially in full sun. Driving past our west field you could see Laura from a distance. Ok full frame Sony lets see what you can do…I’m happy! Did I tell you I LOVE this camera! Yes after all these years, was finally able to shoot Laura Magnuson in her vivid color.
I’m ok now and yes the nebulizer treatment for another round of bronchitis is finally wearing off. Thankfully the Sony can keep up to me as albutoral was certainly working in the fields taking pics tonight! Whew but wait what is that peony over there? I didn’t see mama, papa or baby bear so it must be ‘Goldilocks’. Yes Goldilocks is at peak bloom and unfortunately the signs of our two nights of frost are noticeable as well. Growing peonies in the north country is always a challenge especially when it comes to late spring surprises. Oh well we’re ok with living here and enjoying the ever changing weather no matter what happens. Will be interesting to see if some of the mids and lates show signs of frost damage on some of the outer petals. Here is a great shot of Goldilocks!
Alas it is time to stop and get this post out to you before another neb treatment. We are so looking forward to seeing you on June 2nd and I will be posting that night for Peony Field Updates for those of you coming out on June 3rd. I leave you with this shot of our west field looking north from our information tent. Though it is not a sea of color for the next two days, there are some extraordinary early and early to mid peonies that are excited to see you as well at Swenson Gardens Peony Field Days!
All hands on deck here to get the peonies ready for our Peony Field Days on June 2nd and 3rd. Please note we will not be open on June 4th. Where we are at in the bloom time today is early and some early to mid varieties. Most of the very early varieties are now done. With the warmer weather coming on Thursday and Friday, wouldn’t be surprised if some of the mids start. Today a few of the intersectional hybrid peonies started to show some color. One of my top five reds, ‘America’, should be peaking by Friday. Becky was out photographing some pics for our social media sites so she is the guest photographer on the following pics. The first one is America and the second one is Lotus Bloom.
I am always amazed at the various micro-climates in our growing fields. Perhaps you notice that in your gardens too when the same peonies grow at different stages based on their location. In one of our test fields, Morning Lilac and Gordon E Simonsin were at their peak bloom. Morning Lilac is usually one of our first intersectional hybrid peonies to bloom. This is not the case in the fields that will be open for your trip to Peony Field Days. Hillary, First Arrival and Yellow Emperor showed some color today. The first one is Morning Lilac and the second one is Gordon E Simonsin.
For those of you unfamiliar with the terms early, mid and late blooms, the standard to determine peonies bloom times are based on when Red Charm blooms. Any varieties blooming before Red Charm are considered very early and early. Those blooming after Red Charm are considered early to mid, mid, mid to late, late and very late. Red Charm, Red Grace and Christmas Velvet started to bloom today. They should peak later this week or on Saturday. Another one of my top five reds is pictured below, Christmas Velvet.
I’m assuming that with the warmer weather coming, our fields will start to show more color. Remember that if you are coming on the 2nd or 3rd, the color and varieties will change for the 9th and 10th. Many of our gardening friends come on the 2nd or 3rd and also on the 9th and 10th. That way they can see more varieties as their bloom time changes. Looking ahead at the weather, I’m sure you also see the 40% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, June 3rd. Make sure to check our blog, Facebook and 763-350-2051 for any changes and closures due to severe weather. Now for insurance purposes, I do have to post the following for those of you who will be stopping out at Peony Field Days. Swenson Gardens will not be liable for any injury or loss while you are on our property located at 10958 70th Street SW, Howard Lake, MN 55349. Please be careful on our property as we want all of you to enjoy your visit whether walking or driving on our property. The parking lot will be located on the east side of our driveway close to 70th Street SW. The information tent is located on the west side of our driveway. Stop in there first before walking through our fields to pick up your field maps and additional info. For those of you who are enjoying our fields from a vehicle, you can drive straight north on our driveway and be able to view some of our peonies up close on the east side of our driveway. Proceed north past our home and there is a turn around circle just past our home. Oh and yes we will have a mini biff in the parking lot. Parents make sure to keep tabs on your children while walking through the fields. We are a dog and cat friendly farm as long as they are on a leash and you know what to do with number 2’s! The honey bees that are collecting pollen on the peonies are from our hives. They are quite docile as they are Italian honey bees. They won’t sting you unless harassed so let them do their thing and snap a photo or two. We do not sell cut flower peonies but will be happy to sell you some bare root peonies for pick up or delivery in the fall! Don’t forget to bring your camera, sunscreen, bug spray (please do not spray in the peony fields) and boots as some of the areas to walk between the fields are wet. We did plant a cover crop between the rows instead of walking on bare dirt. Also, if you want to have a picnic with family and friends, you are able to lay out a blanket south of our home on our lawn. There you will literally get a birds eye view of the Purple Martins who are tending to their young in our Purple Martin houses. I haven’t seen the Pie Bald Robin lately so not sure if it has left or perhaps it was the female and she is on her nest. Finally, all our fields south of our home will be open during your visit. This includes the fields south of our home which has the wind fence around them. Yes you will get a sneak peak at some amazing new varieties coming out in the next few years. Please note that any areas north of our home are not open during your visit including the pastures where the fertilizer production team resides and yes the fences are electric. Some of you have asked about local restaurants, here are a few we suggest; Delano – Peppermint Twist, Waverly – Waverly Cafe, Howard Lake – Frontera Cafe & Bistro and Cokato – Bait & Hook (dinner only and reservations accepted). We are looking forward to seeing you at Peony Field Days and of course the peonies are too!
Ok so what do we do when the outside temp is 39 F, 2 inches of rain (so far) and the peonies are pouting? We contemplate what needs to be done before Peony Field Days and organize photos. It doesn’t take long to click off a few hundred photos during prime light but we also take the chance to photograph life on the peony farm.
Welcome our new heifer calf that was recently born. Isn’t she, including our daughter, ever so cute! Dexter calves are so sweet and adorable…just like our daughter! Of course dad isn’t too biased here so ‘little moo’ welcome your new life on the peony farm as part of our fertilizer production team!
We took inventory on our Purple Martin pairs and we are currently up to 24. Only one egg was counted so far. And yes we do have a few sparrows that took over a few boxes. I tend to agree with my mom in regards to sparrows. See an earlier post regarding my dad’s love of all living things. No I did not take a broom out to chase them away but I did encourage them to build their nests elsewhere.
Now this is not a site we’ve ever seen on our pond. A flock of American White Pelicans stopped in for a quick bite to eat. For those of you who have never seen our pond that we share with our neighbor, it may be about 1-2 acres in size. Definitely not big enough to hold this many Pelicans so we were glad that they left as the photo on the right shows them in a feeding frenzy. Perhaps minnows were on the diet plan that day?
We’ve had many visitors both two legged and four legged, but this snapping turtle decided that our driveway in back of our house was a perfect place to lay her eggs. Needless to say Jazz and Felix had other ideas. Redd was quickly whisked into his kennel as that would not be a good situation. After putting on some leather gloves and approaching from the rear, the ‘snapper’ was hand delivered to another area where many different types of turtles have laid their eggs. Over the years we’ve had snappers in our barns and even in our garage. Life on the peony farm…you got to love it!
And the winner of the first peonies bloom for 2017 is Paeonia Officinalis subsp ‘huthii’! We were beginning to wonder if the peonies would ever show amidst the colder temperatures we were having. Now with warmer temps the next few days, who knows what will happen with the blooms. We should be announcing Peony Field Days early next week. Rumor has it the first part of June but we are not sure if the second dates will be a week earlier or later. Some of you may be wondering what is this peony called Paeonia Officinalis subsp ‘huthii’? I’ll try to keep this brief to give you a high level answer. So a few thousand years ago, peonies were found in various regions of the world. Of those recognized today, (13) were ‘species’ peonies like ‘Paeonia Officinallis‘ and (27) were ‘subspecies’ like ‘huthii‘. In other words, out of those original (40) peonies, today we have over 7,000 named peony varieties that have been registered by the American Peony Society ‘APS’. Is that cool or what! We use ‘huthii’ extensively in our hybridizing efforts both from a purple bloom standpoint and also for its blue green foliage, but most of all it is normally our first or second peony to bloom since we imported it from France. Welcome to the Swenson Gardens peony blooms for 2017. Oh and yes this was shot with our new Sony A99II and Zeiss 2.8/24070 ZA SSM II lens. And no this shot has not had post processing. I can’t wait for more peony blooms!
Speaking of more peony blooms and Redd shots too, we have a tie for second place. Here Redd is guarding ‘Little Red Gem’ knowing that at least in part, three of the letters in his name match the middle word of this variety. Who knows why he decided to sit and rest by this variety? In any event what a lovely shot! We just love this variety for its fern leaf foliage and easy growing characteristics versus the ‘tenuifolia’s’ or fern leaf peonies. We use to grow fern leaf’s but after seeing the vigor and foliage of these new hybrids, the fern leaf’s are gone. For you fern leaf peony lovers, you really need to try ‘Little Red Gem’! I know Redd likes it so you should too.
Ok so Redd got bored and wanted you to see the other peony blooms that tied for second place. ‘Lil’ Sweetie’ is its name and it also sports the fern leaf foliage. Blooms are held higher above the foliage and its size is smaller than ‘Little Red Gem’. Many of our customers plant these in rock gardens or where space is a concern. I think Redd likes this one too as he can see over it when he’s taking a break. What a fun evening walking through the peony fields tonight! I can only imagine what the fields will look like when more of the peonies start blooming!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had been seeing, what I had thought, an Albino Robin on our peony farm. Finally at 8 PM tonight, he or she appeared in its favorite spot down by our east peony field close to our pond. We have not seen it for a few days so instead of trying to photograph from our second story window roughly 250 yards away, I ran out the door and tried to get closer. No time for the monopod so shooting freehand with the big glass proved to be a bit trying. So for now, here are the best pics I could get.
After taking these pics the bird flew about 300 yards west so off I went running to see if I could get closer. Little did I realize that I’m still wearing my inside slippers running through a rather wet area. Oh well, slippers can always be replaced! There it is in the recently cultivated field! Somewhat closer were these shots so perhaps a blind may be in order to wait for a closer shot? Off it flew back to the east with no idea where it landed.
Ok I’m done running around our fields and our neighbors field so will end with this post as the light was diminishing quickly. I did some research on these amazing and rare color appearance on the American Robin. As best as I can ascertain, the closest photographs appear to be a ‘Piebald Robin’. Other names like ‘Partial Albino’ and ‘leucism Robin’ were also mentioned. In any event, this is/was a once in a lifetime event for this amateur bird photographer. Wouldn’t it be great if this Piebald Robin stayed around for Peony Field Days especially for the photography clubs that are coming out? I’m still waiting for the perfect shot when she or he spends some time in our peonies!
My, my how the last few days and nights have slowed down our peonies growth! This spring reminds me of a similar spring we had about 10-years ago in our former Delano, MN growing field. High temps early in the growing season only to beset with low 20’s and frost when the buds on all the peonies were set. Thankfully we are not that far along in the growing season so even with the forecasted snow, our peonies will be fine. However, for those of you who are vegetable gardeners, make sure to plant your snow peas on the last snowfall of the season! I’m forecasting that this will be true so Monday or Tuesday, get the snow peas in the ground! And yes that is true that the snow peas will be sweeter! We are patiently waiting for the field crew to get in the peony fields and in talking with our field crew, they too are asking when they can get back to work! Looks like after this next round of crazy weather, temps should get back to normal. Whether we worry about the weather or whether the peonies worry about the weather, we’ve found it better to just let the peonies grow according to their timetable and not worry about the weather!