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

How do you transfer a few thousand peony roots to the propagation fields? At our scale, every bare root peony is tagged, contained in plastic tubs, alphabetized and transported on a trailer to the fields. Yes this is very time consuming but we want to make sure that every bare root peonies are labeled correctly. Dan S in this picture has been with us since we started in 2002. Over the years we LOVE Dan S and he has been an integral part in all phases of Swenson Gardens. I’ll never forget one of our first years when we transported all the peony plants to his home to wash them. At the time we lived on a city lot and the previous year we washed them there but our small back yard turned into a mud pit. Thanks Dan S for allowing us that year to muddy up your rural yard. Now that we are on a farm, mud is ok! Dan S is still helping out with the processing, shipping and planting of peonies. His attention to detail is greatly appreciated especially with our international orders that need to be free of all soil. Thanks again Dan S and look forward to seeing you again next year!

Yikes! Now what? With a few hundred tubs of peonies how do you keep track of every one? Cara would you be interested in organizing the field maps? Her answer was confidently ‘YES’! Cara has been with us four years now and each year she surprises us with her gifts and talents. This fall her organizational skills really shined during planting time. Each row is carefully mapped out so the transfer to Excel spreadsheets was seamless. Whenever anything needed organizing…Cara? ‘Yes I’ll do it!’ Thanks Cara for being detailed! You can never have enough backups to backups at this scale.

So how do you fit a few hundred tubs of multiple quantities in each row making sure they are also alphabetized? During this time of planting I’ve found it best to just stay away from Danny! In picture Danny, (on left) is mapping out the row for whatever variety comes his way in the tubs…alphabetically! I’ll never forget the year he took over the layout of the fields. It just so happened to coincide with the purchase of Roger Anderson’s seedlings. Now was that planned right or what? Leaving early one morning to travel 7 hours east to Roger’s house, load a few thousand peonies (thanks Roger for your digging crew) and then traveled 7 hours west to our farm. Then divide, process and organize three separate fields a few days later. No wonder he was interesting to be around as he mapped out 3,300 roots. I didn’t think he would come back after that year as he was the one to make sure all roots were labeled and alphabetized in the fields. Since then that’s the only way we will put a bare root peony in the ground! Thanks Danny for changing our planting ways! Danny’s responsibilities continue to expand. Besides heading up the digging and planting crew, his hybridizing skills are world class! With Roger Anderson as his mentor, I can’t wait for the next generation of Roger’s seedlings, let alone Danny’s seedlings! Be patient gardening friends as new varieties come from us in a few years!

Yes we touch and place EVERY bare root peony in the rows! Again very time consuming, but we want to make sure that each and every one of our peonies are planted at the correct eye to ground level location. At this scale, additional manual labor is warranted. Once the roots are set, rows are covered, marked and then, yes, a large Blizzard and fixin’s are deservedly paid for by yours truly at Dairy Queen! Yes planting 1,500 peonies this fall has its perks!

What happened to our Peony Field Days parking lot? Little did you know that this parking lot was actually getting ready to grow an amass of new peonies. This area was planned three years ago for propagation. Our process for propagation fields begins with alfalfa (of course which is then used to feed our cattle) which in turn provide the manure to put back in the propagation fields. Funny how that works but we are SO blessed to be able to do this in a large scale. We’re not talking fresh manure either! The manure is composted over one winter to kill any weed seeds. NEVER put fresh, stinky manure in your gardens or landscape! The beauty of properly prepared composted cow manure is the fact that it doesn’t stink! Multiple applications of composted cow manure were added to this field before we plowed it under last year. A couple other ‘organic high brix’ secrets are also amended into this field. In our test fields we were amazed at the growth in 2 and 3 years. This same mixture is contained in our peony starter fertilizer on a smaller scale. But for those of you who have purchased this from us, you can now say you are growing ‘organic high brix’ peonies! Of course that is only true if you do not use any chemicals after the fact and your planting site was fallow for 5-years after the last chemical application. Friends, you do not need CHEMICALS to grow and maintain peonies! At the scale we are propagating peonies, if we can do it on thousands of peonies, please, please consider this in your gardens and landscapes! Ok I’ll get off my soapbox…

Back to our new peony field, the final field prep in the picture above is to fluff up the soil before planting by roto tilling. This allows the soil to settle in nicely around the new roots. Once the final tilling is done, we are set to make the furrows and plant. See next peony field jottings post.

For those of you/us who are visual learners, 2016 will launch many ‘how to’ videos on peonies. Needless to say we and for sure you, should be excited about this. An energetic young man, Ben, informed us that he has an interest in video photography and editing. Well Ben you have found the right place! Ben has been with us for three years and honored to have him take this important piece over. The goal at Swenson Gardens is foremost to educate gardeners on the joy of peonies in our landscapes. Stay tuned as this ‘how to plant peonies’ video will launch with our 2016 website.

Greetings peony gardening friends! Been a VERY busy fall (now almost winter) here on our peony farm. All is well and in next few posts will give you a pictorial on what takes place as we closed out the fields for 2015. The updates to our website are in process. We are thinking sometime in January and will post once we get closer. In the mean time, please be patient like are dear peonies are doing awaiting the new season.

All the final shipments of peonies are packed, labeled and ready to leave our peony farm this morning! Its sad for us as this is the last shipment for 2015 but it is also great that your peonies will be on their way shortly. We have enjoyed growing these for you, nurturing them, maintaining them, digging them and now SHIPPING them. Most of you have already received tracking info from USPS Priority Mail so once they are delivered to the Post Office, please follow their tracking info as you are looking at the same info as us. On receipt of your package, open immediately and store in a cool, dark spot (not a refrigerator) until you are ready to plant them. How long before you should plant? The sooner the better! IF you cannot plant within a few days after receiving, mist the sphagnum moss with water to make sure the roots stay hydrated and again, PLANT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Please, please do not let them sit in the box until next spring! We try very hard to ship the largest, plumpest and freshest roots in this market so the sooner to plant them, the better for your new peonies! Enjoy your Swenson Gardens bare root peonies and happy gardening…and planting!

We have been beyond busy preparing your peony orders the past couple of weeks. We lost the better part of the week of September 21st to rain outs and MUD. All orders have now been picked. We are awaiting final shipping labels from USPS Priority Mail so they should go to our Post Office today or tomorrow. USPS Priority Mail will send out tracking information to all ‘good’ emails once they are delivered to our Post Office. The ‘Swenson Gardens Packing Slips’ are not the tracking information. Those are just for your records as you may have received them automatically.  Hang in there peony gardeners and happy planting soon!

With the lovely rains this week, we had to postpone the start of our last peony dig. For those of you who have been waiting for our final shipment, we will post the progression over the next week or so. Digging crew was able to pop a few out of the ground before the rains came but only a few hundred more to dig. Thanks again for your peony orders and we will make sure to take wonderful care of them before you receive.

Hard to believe, again, that the 2015 peony season is coming to an end here at Swenson Gardens. Seems like last week we were anxiously awaiting the first sign of life under the barren brown landscape. Yes there is lots to do yet and for those of you gardeners who are putting off ordering your peonies for 2015, the last day to order is this Friday, September 18th! Thanks to all of you who have already ordered and will post updates on shipping your peonies in the next couple of weeks.

We need to sell our remaining leftover and 1-3 eye wholesale peony roots! I just love sneaking on the Blog now that I know the secret password! Sorry dear but I will soon be posting a ‘secret’ password on Facebook that allows those visiting the Peony Barn Sale and picking up roots an additional 20% off the already reduced pricing. Don’t tell Keith yet but the secret code is ‘REDD’. Since Redd is the master of mischievousness around our farm, its only befitting that I continue his MO. Mention ‘Redd’ at the Peony Barn Sale checkout and receive an additional 20% off your barn sale roots. First come first served and limited to the leftover and 1-3 eye wholesale peony roots at the final day of Swenson Gardens peony barn sale. Happy shopping…and saving!

For those of you who didn’t make it out to pick up your peony orders last Saturday, this Saturday, September 12th from 9 am to 5 PM is the final day. Please make all attempts to pick up your order on 9/12! The address again is 10958 70th ST SW, Howard Lake, MN. Thanks!