Human Flower Project
Orrington, MAINE USA
Murrieta, CALIFORNIA USA
Princeton, MAINE USA
Friday, September 22, 2006
Peonies, Through an Alaskan Window
Now, when peonies have vanished from the rest of the globe, Alaska is sitting pretty.
An English cottage garden, in Alaska
Photo: David Goodgame
Where are the harpoons and polar bears? This is Alaska??
Indeed it is, and ag scientists—following in the footsteps of several seasoned flower gardeners—see a business opportunity in that blooming incongruity, namely peonies. Some of the most adored flowers in all the world, they have a short bloom season. “Most peonies come from Israel in April, Southern Europe in May, and Great Britain in June. After that, there’s none available until October, when New Zealand and Australia start to export their crop.” Meaning there are three months of every year when peony-lovers have gone without.
Except for some savvy Alaskan gardeners. Judith Wilmarth of Anchorage has been growing peonies since 1985; she’s provided this online primer for producing these luscious flowers. And David Goodgame, focusing on delphiniums, roses and lilies, will melt your igloo with his amazing gardening successes—peonies included.
Yellow Itoh ‘Garden Treasure’
Photo: Alaska Master Gardeners
In Rosie Milligan’s report, UAF researcher Patricia Holloway says she’s been offered “$1.25 a stem for fresh peonies during the seasonal dead time”—a window of opportunity that’s open from July to late September. “She has concluded that it is possible to grow 100,000 stems per acre with the buyer paying for shipping. That’s $125,000 for an acre worth of peonies.”
One of the reasons peonies do so well up here is that they actually thrive under an insulation blanket of snow. “In 2005, Fairbanks received snowfall late in the year. Many perennials were lost.” But those ingenous ag scientists have been experimenting with “fake snow” —to see if it might protect the plants in case of late precipitation. Another hitch: peony farming requires only 3-4 weeks of intensive work a year. One farmer says she plans on hiring “14-year-olds, who have a hard time getting a summer job, and schoolteachers, who have the summer off.” Or did, until now.