Peony Season 2019 - And so it begins...
great growth and changes at the peony farm
Holy smokes, the peony flower season is here and we have done
a lot to be ready for it! The new varieties of white peonies we
planted in the fall of 2015 produced some flowers last year and
so far they look like they really enjoyed the winter. Last fall we
planted hundreds more white peonies and they are showing signs
of coming up with strong and multiple stems. In two or three
years they will double? triple? our availability of whites. The hoop
house has been without a cover since we bought the farm and I
started to think of it as just a protected vegetable bed. Now with
a cover on it, we can start growing earlier, when we really need a
mental boost to remember that summer is coming. We planted a
couple white peonies in there last fall so it will be exciting to have
earlier peonies for sale.
Another big (literally) improvement is the addition of a second
walk-in cooler. We had to rent an extra mobile cooler last year
and it was crammed and failed two times. Should be no such
problems this year. Very soon there will be a room built between
the two coolers that will be air-conditioned. The room will protect
the temperature in the coolers when they are opened and allow
all the harvested flowers to be processed in a cool environment to
maintain their freshness. It was so hot last summer that we had
to do a lot of work right in the 32 degree cooler to keep things
chilled. A bit much for some of us!
It’s such an exciting start to the 2019
season. Stay tuned for May’s early estimate on harvest time.
Read the latest from the farm
We had a good year! We would like to thank all of our harvest helpers, Sara, Jessica, Ethan, Larry, Janet and of course our Numero Uno, Jesus!