Peony Field Days preparations are in full swing! The storm that came through last evening left us without power for a couple of hours but oh the joy to have about an inch of rain and 20 F degrees drop in temperature. For those of you who are venturing out here on June 1st and/or June 2nd, make sure to check the weather conditions on June 2nd as they are predicting thunderstorms in the afternoon. We will post on blog, Facebook and 763.350.2051 for any cancellations that are weather related. Here are a few of the varieties that started to open up this evening.
Red Grace another one of our favorite reds.
Chocolate Soldier our favorite dark red.
Liberator, one of Saunders tallest reds. Can you find the bumble bee?
Salmon Beauty had an visitor, a Tiger Swallowtail, that stayed for a few shots.
And yes the first intersectional hybrid peony, First Arrival. As you can see in this pic, the primary bud opened with the secondary still to come. I will try to post more pics tomorrow evening as some varieties are opening quickly due to the prior heat wave and others are still waiting to open. Because we have three different fields open to view and three different micro climates, overall I would say we are at early to mid bloom time in two of the fields. New varieties continue to pop so it is fun to see color in the fields. For those of you coming to Peony Field Days, sorry but I need to post this for insurance purposes, Swenson Gardens shall not be held liable for any injury, death, theft and accidents while you are on our property at 10958 70th Street SW, Howard Lake, MN 55349. You are entering and being on our property at your own risk. Our farm is for you to enjoy and please be safe while attending Peony Field Days. Having you visit our farm is the highlight of the year for us and we are so anxious to visit with you and talk peonies. For those of you who follow my blog, you may want to order your peonies online to make sure they are available as we will be selling out of many of the varieties during Peony Field Days. We now have the ability to order online for local pickup so take advantage of that before your favorites are sold out. You can always order more at Peony Field Days!