Another beautiful day on the peony farm

May 20, 2013

A cool weather weekend ended with sunshine and good times.

We had a bustling Sunday at the farm and ended our evening with a barbecue dinner for about 40 guests to celebrate birthdays. It was a lovely evening and the weather co-operated beautifully. Thanks to Monica and our dear friends Nick and Taylor for pulling it all together while we tended to our farm visitors and customers. 

Working in the flower tent, I was tickled to hear a young man (about 20 years old) tell us how enchanting our place was to visit.  He was so excited to be here with his family and just loved the iris gardens and peony farm. Then, a little girl all dressed up – her earrings glistening, came up to me to pay for the special flower she personally selected from the ‘tub of peonies’. She was just a doll and so happy to have found ‘that perfect flower’. Another customer picked up a nice potted peony just bursting with buds and blooms and a bouquet of peonies – she is traveling in Oregon this week and will enjoy the bouquet in her hotel room and gift the peony to one of her friends she visits later this week. I have as much fun as the visitors.

We have newly budded peony plants available in pots this week: Allan Rogers, Easy Lavender, General MacMahon, Sarah Bernhardt (an old-time favorite blush peony) and Shirley Temple – they join about 140 other varieties of peonies that we have available in potted containers this season. We have many other varieties that are available to order bare root for fall planting. We still have a nice selection of potted Intersectional (Itoh) peonies including: Border Charm, Callie’s Memory, Chief Black Hawk, Garden Treasure, Hillary, Julia Rose, Kaleidoscope, Prairie Charm, Rosy Prospects, Scarlet Heaven, Singing in the Rain and Yellow Crown.

Today is predicted to be a warm day, reaching a high of 75 degrees. We’ll enjoy it, as we head into some cooler weather the next week or so. 

Brooks Gardens is located just north of Salem, Oregon; I-5 exit 263; 1 mile east to Brooks, Oregon; left/north onto 99E; one mile to Topaz Street. Just a short 35-40 minute drive south of Portland, between Woodburn and Salem.  Follow the Peonies & Iris signs. 
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