Chemical free peony grower and world class hybridizer of new peonies.

Can peonies be enjoyed for generations? Well yes and no! I know I posted this picture before so please bear with me on this post. The only generation missing from this photo is my grandma who LOVED any kind of flowers. So much so that she passed on her love of flowers to my dad who in turn passed on to me and now that our kids are young adults, perhaps they too will carry-on their generation of loving flowers…especially peonies! So my answer for ‘yes’ is the fact that we need to pass the joy of growing flowers and harvesting their blooms on to the next generation. My grandma and dad would attest to the joy of harvesting tulip blooms when at age 5, I cut off all her tulip blooms. That was two generations who inspired me to LOVE flowers! Thus my answer for ‘no’ above may be attributed to current generations passing on their love to the next generation. Perhaps next growing season we all could do a better job at ‘hands on’ designing a flower, vegetable and fruit gardens to the next generation! Yes its fun to see instant gratification of lovely pictures on various sites, but why not take pictures of children enjoying the fruits of their labor? Just a thought…

Speaking of fruits, (not me even though I’ve been known to be a tad intense/OCD/nuts), my job as a 10-year old was to weed and pick strawberries. Little did I know that a few decades later I would do that in our strawberry patch. And yes our kids have been known to do the same only to say ‘these are the best strawberries i ever tasted’. Interesting…not if I’m passing that love on to the next generation. Things did get a little out of hand when I asked Becky if I could plant some raspberries? She wholeheartedly agreed! Things got a little weird when I pulled a tree planter home from our local soil and water office. Of course she asked what was the tree planter for and mentioned that it might be to plant raspberries! Of course the normal question was ‘well how many are you planting?’ Rather sheepishly i replied, 1,500! So now when I ask her if I can plant more fruit crops, she doesn’t ask ‘how many’!

I know my love of birds, especially Purple Martins came from my dad. Growing up my dad would feed all the song birds, including sparrows. Who needs funny videos when the sight of my mom chasing the sparrows away from the feeders with a broom in hand in the middle of winter will always be hardwired in my memories. Dad would have to sneak food into the feeders when mom wasn’t home as his tender heart loved all living things. On major Holiday’s, he would put a dish of food from the table together and give to our cat and dog. And yes that generational love is the same today with all our animals and songbirds. This past Thanksgiving I put together a plate of table fare to give to our cats and Redd. And yes the bird feeder is always full except that no one is chasing the sparrows away from the feeder with a broom!:)

Not to leave out our fertilizer production team, the generation love of cows was also passed on to me. Our team is now up to 25 members and doing well. I was going through some of my dads cherished newspaper articles and found one dated 1959. There was a picture of my mom and dad with me on his lap. Little did I know that he was the dairy farmer of the year in Wisconsin.

Getting back to vegetables, my dad is seen teaching our kids the art of planting a vegetable garden. I always remember at that age when my dad would bring in vegetables, especially the cucumbers, from his garden. Lather on the mayonnaise bite by bite and still today that is my favorite garden vegetable…although the mayo is not lathered on as much due to the availability of that in our current eating plan.

The other generational love of outdoor activities was fishing! We grew up in Southwestern Wisconsin which had an abundance of trout streams. Before dad went to work in the morning, he loved to head out to his favorite trout holes to see if he could catch some wily trout. His love of fishing was passed on to him from his parents. I had the joy of fishing with my grandparents out of an old 16′ aluminum boat. Since my grandpa was blind, my grandma and I would do the rowing while he fished. In dad’s last visit to Burntside Lake in Ely, we had the chance to go out in our boat, not rowing of course nowadays.

Since dad wasn’t very mobile, his joy at our family cabin was to sit on the dock, drink a cup of coffee and look out at the postcard view. We’d ask him if he was ok and his answer was ‘great, great, great’!

This picture will always be remembered as he is explaining (and showing off) his beloved peony garden after my mom passed away. He kept careful records on when each peony bloomed and how blooms each plant had. The highlight of the year for him was the peony bloom season. Since he lived up in Superior, WI, his bloom time came later than what we have down here so we were able to see and enjoy his peony garden after our busy season.

After my mom passed away 2 1/2 years ago, dad had an event so for the last 4+ years, many miles were put driving 250 miles each way to attend to my mom and dad. On this particular visit, the infamous Redd came with me. Though dads memory was failing, I could tell his love of animals perked up. Redd didn’t care that Grandpa called him ‘Fido’ from his dog as a young boy. And yes Redd was on his best behavior while visiting. Did Redd know something and wanted Grandpa to know that it was ok to snuggle with him? Dad had been in the nursing home for 1 year and nine months. I haven’t posted for awhile as I’ve had three end of life calls with my dad in the last couple of months.

I am humbled and honored to have my dad with us for 92 years and 30-days. As I’m writing this last paragraph the tears are streaming on to the keyboard as he is no longer with us. He will be greatly missed but knowing he has been a man of God and a prayer warrior for all, gives me comfort that I will see him again. One of the joys in this whole end of life process was to find my Grandpa’s obituary. Unbeknownst to my sister and I, our dad’s obituary read almost the same as our Grandpa’s! Is that cool or what? Generational love? I agree wholeheartedly! Please hug your family members today and tell them you love them! I know my dad loved me and my family and I know for sure that the patriarch of peonies, loved PEONIES!

The peonies packing crew just completed all the orders. They will be shipped out on Tuesday, October 11th. Thanks for making 2016 a great peonies year!

The peonies are in the process of being dug this week. The digging crew should be done tomorrow or Thursday depending on the weather forecast. It rained this evening and forecast is for more showers overnight. Yes this makes for tough digging but it has to be done rain or shine. We will update our progress as the week progresses. If all goes well, all orders should be shipped out on Tuesday, October 11th. This is a sad but also happy time of year for the crew at Swenson Gardens as we see the last peonies being shipped out but the winter hibernation for our work crew is greatly appreciated!

As our 2016 season for ordering peonies winds down, we’d like to say thank you for a great year! This has been another challenging growing season with above normal rain fall, but thankfully we grow and nurture peonies! They are amazing plants! For you bloggers, our online ordering will be shut down on Sunday, September 25th so order before then or go to our ‘see how to order page’ and mail in your order on Saturday, September 24th. This will be your last chance to order Swenson Gardens peonies for shipping only in 2016!

During our peony pick up days and peony barn sale we will be having peony workshops at 10 am, noon and 2 PM on Friday, September 16th and Saturday, September 17th. So what is our peony workshops? Of course you can go to our YouTube video on how to plant a peony, but what if you need more hands on experience moving and dividing your own peonies? Well you have found the experts during these times to help you learn how to do this in your garden. Since fall is the best time to move, divide and plant peonies, why not learn how to do it? We will show you how to divide a peony in the ground and out of the ground. Now for those of you who would like to bring your cherished peony to us, please wash all the dirt off of your root mass, cut off the stems and let it rest in the shade for a couple of hours. Once the roots have ‘leathered’ up, bring it along with you and we will show you how to divide it. Peony roots are very brittle when they first come out of the ground. By letting them rest in the shade after you washed them and cut off the stems, the roots become less brittle, pliable and leathered up. The address for our peony farm is 10958 70th st sw, Howard Lake, MN. We look forward to seeing you at Swenson Gardens Peony Workshops!

Friday, September 16th and Saturday, September 17th from 9 am to 5 PM are the days soon upon us to pick up your peonies! Address is 10958 70th st sw, Howard Lake, MN. We are looking forward to seeing our returning peony gardeners as well as new peony gardeners!

All the first dig peonies have been shipped out and pick up orders filled. Yes gardening friends our annual peony barn sale will be held Friday, September 16th and Saturday, September 17th from 9 am to 5 PM. Bring your family and friends to pick out some more peony roots! Roots are smaller than our retail roots but oh the reduced prices! Yes friends even some varieties are available that were not listed on our website. Sorry but we can’t hold any roots as it is first come first served. Make it a day trip to Swenson Gardens and enjoy some sale priced peonies as well as local apple orchards. Event is held rain or shine in one of our barns. Did I mention yet that Swenson Gardens peony starter fertilizer will be available at $3.00 per bag? Well it is and has been upgraded to the same mixture that we are using in our new peony fields. All ingredients are either raised and expelled on our farm and of chemical free (or_an_c) composition. We can’t use that word but think you can figure it out. Our son is at college so one of our workers is trying out his entrepreneurship. One bag per peony starter fertilizer will provide years of necessary nutrients. Address is 10958 70th St SW, Howard Lake, MN. For some of you who missed the deadline for our first dig peonies, now is the time to redeem yourself by buying some peonies at our barn sale!

A couple of days ago the peony barn was cleaned and prepared for the picking and packing of the peonies.

Can you say tubs loaded with peonies? This is a partial shot of the tubs waiting for the pickers to come through with customer orders in hand. Each tub and peony root is labeled and alphabetized so the picking is easier.

Susan is one of our new peony pickers. She and the team had fun today picking all the shipping orders. Most of those orders will go out on Monday, September 12th so peony lovers, next week it should be time for you to plant!

Did you order the Harry L Smith peony? One of these peonies might be yours!

Dan S continues to amaze us with his ever careful eye in providing the most peony ‘eyes’ in the orders. If you plan on coming out to the Peony Barn Sale to pick up some more peonies, make sure to tip him well so he can help you find the best peony root! The system the picking team has developed requires each order to be double checked by another person to make sure all the peony orders are filled correctly. Tomorrow the pick up orders will be filled and placed into the coolers for the upcoming peony pick up days on Friday, September 16th and Saturday, September 17th from 9 am to 5 PM. More information will be posted about the Peony Barn Sale but for those of you who have visited before, might I suggest to come early for the best selection. The peonies we will have on sale are excess retail peony roots as well as smaller peony roots that did not pass our retail peony root requirements.