Monthly Archive: January 2019

Is 2019 the year of Swenson Gardens peonies? We certainly hope so as our website is now fully functional. Our webmaster was finally able to upload our online store directly into the website. Some of you were able to order, a bunch of peonies from our other website, shop.swensongardens.com, before that site was live on swensongardens.com. Not to confuse you, but for future reference, keep this in mind next year if we encounter trouble like this year. We do apologize for those of you waiting for ordering on swensongardens.com and then finding out that some varieties were already sold out as lots of you ordered from shop.swensongardens.com. Hopefully next year we will not have this delay. How do you like our new online store though? This was a major upgrade for us so we hope you enjoy our new store!

This year we have released our new seedlings ‘Tonka’ line of intersectional/Itoh hybrid peonies! These are named after Lake Minnetonka and recognize the history of that lake and the city of Minnetonka here in Minnesota. We’ve noted a brief descriptive paragraph on our website and the history surrounding that area is worthy of some Google searching whether you are in Minnesota or from a different state. Though color abounds in our virtual garden online, outside it is a different story!

Ok so if you like the color white, snow is the predominant source of that color now. Over the next few years we are anxiously awaiting our new display garden. Here will be found hundreds of peony varieties. Of course the brownish tan color is the corn stalk mulch covering over 3000 new peonies that were planted last fall. If your garden is in USDA Zones 2-4, did you mulch your newly planted peonies? If not, mulch them now as noted in our Peony Care page. Mulch is not to keep the first year planted roots warmer, mulch is needed to prevent the freeze – thaw temperatures in late winter from allowing the roots to heave out of the soil.

Both Heidi and Redd love to run in the newly planted and mulched peony fields. I’ve been trying to teach them to run up and down the rows versus across the rows, but that isn’t working out very well. Finding morsels of corn in amongst the corn stalks seems to be their motive! Ok peony gardening friends its time to sign off for now and enjoy your visit on our website dreaming of peonies!

Welcome back to the 2019 Life On The Peony Farm blog postings. Yes it has been awhile since posting as 2018 summer and fall was beyond busy as we continue to expand our peony farm. Some of you have been asking how Heidi and Redd are doing so I thought I would share some updated pics. They both are still adorable but Miss Heidi has exerted her independence by visiting our neighbors and exploring the wide open fields around here now that the corn and soybean fields are now bare. Redd use to have the upper hand in being able to run away from Heidi, but now she is able to outrun him. As you can see in this pic, Heidi also has the height advantage over Redd.

We’re not sure how much Heidi weighs now but oh she is very muscular and filling out nicely at 14 months old. Redd turned 9 years old last summer and his lovely red coat is now being dusted with gray on his muzzle.

They are continually in motion whether its running around or trying to get them to pose for a picture. Both of them LOVE to go for rides in the Gator and of course in the truck. So how is training going with Heidi? Well we have good days and not so good days as she is more interested in chasing cats around the farm versus trying to reward her with treats while training. Speaking of treats, a tradition we have in our home around Christmas is yes making lefse. For those of you who do not know what lefse is, its made with riced potatoes, heavy cream, butter and a dash of salt. They are made into golf ball sized balls, rolled out thin and then fried on a 500 degree griddle. Scandinavian for sure! The best way to eat them is either with butter and cinnamon or with cookie butter. Can you say to die for?

Starting out with 30 lbs of potatoes yielded about 14 dozen of these gems. Oh I was beyond happy on Christmas Eve as lutefisk was also on the menu. You can Google lutefisk if you want as I won’t detail what it actually is as you need to put gobs of butter, white sauce and allspice on it so you can’t taste it. Yes this tradition was passed on from my Swedish and Finnish grand parents but our dear children forbade eating it after the age of 2 as I was able to get away feeding it to them until they were 3 years old. I thought if I started them young this may continue the tradition? Not! It was a lot easier to pass on the generational love of peonies to them versus lutefisk! Life on the peony farm…continues.

Ordering Swenson Gardens peonies is now available on our online store. https://shop.swensongardens.com/ We have a software glitch linking our online store to our website so for now go to shop.swensongardens.com and let the peonies party begin!

Swenson Gardens peonies are soon to be online with our 2019 website! We have been working feverishly to launch our website earlier then the past few years so stay tuned as we get set for the 2019 online ordering. This year we are releasing more of our herbaceous and intersectional/Itoh hybrid peonies seedlings. Here is a sneak peek at a few of them:

‘Roger’s Red’ is a herbaceous hybrid peony that took our breath away last year. Unlike Stephen E. Ambrose, Roger’s Red does not show any white streaks within some of the petals and by far, the darkest red that Roger Anderson has hybridized. Very stout stems like most of Roger’s varieties. Just a few to share this year so order early once we open.

‘Tonka Peach’ is a intersectional/Itoh hybrid peony that continues Roger Anderson’s world renown hybridizing. This is one of our new found favorites amidst a sea of color that was included in Roger’s last generation of seedlings. This picture was taken on a three year old plant and can’t wait to see what happens as it continues to mature.

WOW is all I can say on another of Roger Anderson’s herbaceous peony seedlings. ‘Fire Bomb’ is absolutely stunning in the field. Yes a true fire engine red bomb that stands moderately high on stout stems.

These and other peony seedlings and new peonies will be noted on our 2019 website! We do want to wish all of our peony gardening friends a healthy and Happy New Year! May 2019 be filled with awe in your gardens this spring as we wait for our dearly loved peonies to appear!