PEONY FARM JOTTINGS…
Greetings from the Swenson Gardens peony farm! We are still experiencing technical difficulties with our blog. Repeated phone calls to our web hosting service continues to be ‘we’re looking in to this’? For now the best place to view real time photos are on our Facebook and Instagram sites. If our web hosting service ever resolves the ability to add photos to our blog posts, will be posting more often. So for now, here are the text only updates on our peony farm.
We are certainly blessed to have a somewhat normal winter so far. Adequate snowfall stayed on our peony fields allowing a blanket of insulation and retention of moisture as the snow melts. There are still some drifts left but for the most part, fields are void of snow cover. Seeing the color brown in the fields is a great feat of patience this time of year as the ground starts to warm up.
Speaking of the ground warming up, we’ve been monitoring soil temperatures the past few years and can now say with confidence that peonies begin to show above ground growth when the soil temperature is 44 to 46 degrees six inches deep in the soil. I’m not concerned with the ground temperature on the surface knowing that peonies grow from underneath the surface first. With more daylight hours now, green and color coming soon!
The fertilizer production team continues to grow and increase in quantity. Last evening we had our first new addition to the team in 2020 as a red Dexter heifer was born. Mom and daughter are doing great and the team was so excited to meet their new team member. Elvis Lee, our herd bull, was especially proud as he guarded mom and daughter from the team and us. He gets a tad protective when a new calf is born so glad he takes on that demeanor. However, having his horns brush against my unbeknownst back and lower extremity while petting the calf results in a quick escape and yes a bellowing SCREAM!
Heidi, our German Shepard, is now 2 years and 4 months old. She no longer has her puppy frame and is now rather imposing to visitors, cats and of course Redd our red lab. Redd is 10 years and 7 months old. He’s slowing down a lot and dad lifts him into and out of the Gator and tractors. His slower pace though changes in an instance when he gets tired of Heidi picking on him so he has to show Heidi who is still the boss. They are such a joy to have around and hopefully Redd stays healthy for many years to come.
Yes our cat patrol is still employed on our peony farm. There is far less shrieking going on in our home from some people as they seem to have reduced the rodent appearances. We now have 4 members of our cat patrol. Toby, Tiger, Grey Beard and Hey Stash. Hey Stash is a lovely black and white female cat that took on that name as she has a mustache. Cold nights finds all four of them huddled together in our heated garage. I’m sure they too are anxious for spring so they can spring into their rodent patrol job.
We are so anxious for our next batch of peony seedlings to bloom this spring. As you’ve seen on our new website, the seedlings from Roger F. Anderson and our own seedlings are world renown and very spectacular. Perhaps you were able to purchase some before they sold out and even now may be a great time to order some before they sell out as well.
We wish all of you good health, peace and God’s blessings! Happy peony gardening from Swenson Gardens!