2018 American Peony Society Tours Flora Wonder Arboretum

Potted Evergreens and Succulents
Flora Wonder Arboretum
American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
When we first got off the bus at the Flora Wonder Arboretum and Buchholz & Buchholz Nursery, I wasn't really impressed (maybe because there weren't any peonies in sight), but as we started to walk around and discover so many beautiful and interesting plant varieties, my appreciation began to grow. I fell for all of the potted miniature landscapes and couldn't stop taking pictures of them! They reminded me a bit of fairy gardens - without the fairies. A tiny world growing in one pot. The photos I took here are just amazing, which speaks to the talent of the amazing gardeners there. Click on any of the photos to see a much larger and detailed version!
Pumice Planters, Potted Succulents with Dead Wood
Flora Wonder Arboretum

Potted Succulents, Pumice Stones with Dead Wood Stumps
Flora Wonder Arboretum

Succulents Planted in Stone and Gravel
Flora Wonder Arboretum
I was told that this nursery is not usually open for tours, but we were somehow lucky enough to snag one. Apparently one of their specialties are something they call "Flora Wonder Pumice Planters". Many of the APS Members were wild about them, but to me they were just plants in a rock. :-P What I really liked was their use of dead wood in many of their arrangements. I just felt drawn to it, the white sun-bleached branches and stumps really caught my eye. Aside from their potted plants, there was also a large garden behind their sales office with rock-lined gravel pathways. The garden was a mix of Japanese maples, evergreens, and flowering shrubs.
Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
Flora Wonder Arboretum

Flora Wonder Arboretum Garden

Peony 'Cheddar Supreme'
Flora Wonder Arboretum
I did manage to find a couple of peonies right behind the sales office. The one that stood out the most to me, and seemed to be in a nice stage of bloom at the time was Peony 'Cheddar Supreme', which I do not grow, but may need to add to my list. However despite all of the plant loveliness, I must say that my favorite part of the Flora Wonder Arboretum tour was finding this beautiful horse after traipsing through all of the greenhouses. It was a white horse with a trace of gray, with a gray main and tail, just gorgeous, and standing in a field of yellow flowers. I whistled to him, and he turned around to look at me. After examining each other for a bit, I whistled again and he approached me. I was estaic when he came close enough for me to sweet talk him and pet him a bit. I saw he'd been eating some grass in the field. So I reached down to pick some for him, and he ate it from my hand. So endearing.
Horse in Field of Yellow Flowers
Flora Wonder Arboretum

Mike Miller and Me
Flora Wonder Arboretum

Kris Jurik, Jeff & Jennifer Harvey, Scott Parker
Flora Wonder Arboretum
The comments made by APS members while at the Flora Wonder Arboretum were all positive affirmations of amazement and wonder at what the Buchholz owners have created in their little corner of the world. If you like Japanese Maples, succulents, and/or evergreens and ever get the opportunity to take a tour, jump! There were so many varieties of Japanese maples in their greenhouses, probably more unique and different varieties than I have even seen in one location (and I've been to Japan and toured a garden with a Japanese maple collection - so that's saying something). APS Members found their fair share of "flora treasures" to take home with them while on the tour, that for many will be once in a lifetime!
APS Members with their Flora Treasures
Flora Wonder Arboretum

2018 American Peony Society Tours Lan Su Chinese Garden

Lan Su Chinese Garden
American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
The next day, the American Peony Society 2018 Convention attendees toured the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. I guess I was a little surprised at the scale. I think I'd imagined it would be larger, but I also didn't realize it was downtown. The whole garden was contained within one square city block. It would definitely provide a nice respite from the day to day office worries. I wish I had a garden like this within walking distance of my office. I'm guessing the smaller scale made it easier to maintain. I commented in the garden that Lan Su Chinese Garden contained authentic Chinese hardscapes, with the American eye for maintenance. It was better maintained than many of the gardens I'd toured in China.
Chinese Classical Garden Rocks
Lan Su Chinese Garden
Despite the size, the garden remained true to the Chinese garden style of Suzhou, China - which is quite different than the Chinese garden style in Luoyang, China. In Suzhou, just like Lan Su, the garden is set up as if it was a courtyard with a gate surrounding the whole thing, and the buildings of the home around the edges of the courtyard. There is usually a water feature or pond of some sort, and the special rocks imported from a particular area of China where the limestone eroded in the rocks leaving an irregular form with holes throughout, forming a natural art sculpture. The Suzhou gardens feature a few tree peonies, here and there for effect, but not many. The Luoyang gardens are all about peonies, and they are everywhere. The Lan Su Chinese garden featured all of the elements of the Classical Gardens in Suzhou, and like the Suzhou gardens there were a couple of tree peonies, but not many. The tree peonies had all finished blooming before our tour, so you may not have even noticed them unless you were really looking.
Erwin, David Michener, and Win
Lan Su Chinese Garden

Me, LaDonna, and Vince
Lan Su Chinese Garden
The APS members all seemed to enjoy themselves, the break from color overload was nice to quiet the mind and spirit. After passing through the garden gate, the first building in the garden welcomed the APS members with a light breakfast buffet of fruits - blueberries, strawberries, melons, and pineapple, some assorted pastries - muffins, croissants, and turnovers, and coffee or tea. The nice weather with a bit of cloud cover provided APS members the opportunity to sit and chat while enjoying their light breakfast in the garden surrounded by the peaceful views.
Chinese Pagodas in the City
Lan Su Chinese Garden

Chinese Garden Gate
Lan Su Chinese Garden

Chinese Tea House
Lan Su Chinese Garden
The second building at the far back of the garden served as the Lan Su Chinese Garden's tea house, serving light snacks and tea during normal business hours. The tea house was filled with traditional Chinese furnishings and decor, but it was not yet open. Since we came early in the day, the APS members were able to enjoy the garden exclusively to ourselves. We found a few animals in this garden to entertain us as well. There were many colors of koi fish in the large pond frolicking about, and a great blue heron watched from the edges of the pond and then perched itself high above the garden on the corner precipice of the pagoda roof. I think everyone had a nice time here if nothing else, but to sit and relax. One APS member even felt compelled to find his zen by practicing some Tai Chi in the garden.
Great Blue Heron
Lan Su Chinese Garden

Edward Practicing Tai Chi
Lan Su Chinese Garden

2018 American Peony Society Tours Oregon Perennial Company

Andre Wierstra of Oregon Perennial Company
Leads American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
It was a real treat to tour Piet Wierstra's Oregon Perennial Company. When the APS buses arrived, Piet split us into three groups, and he, his son, and his daughter each led a group of us around his farm. It was neat to see how they harvested their cut peony flowers. They said the stems sold for much higher prices before Mother's Day. I guess it's a popular flower for Moms. So they used green houses to create a warmer micro-climate for the peonies so they would grow and develop their buds earlier in the year. Adre said they only harvest grade A cuts for the floral market, and everything else is discarded. The fields of Oregon Perennial Company's peonies were majestic against the back drop of the mountains and a few native fir trees.
Oregon Perennial Company Fields

Piet Wierstra of Oregon Perennial Company
Leads American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
Since Andre's group skipped Piet's personal gardens, I hung back and snapped a few photos of the fields and the tours, hoping that Piet's approaching group might get a glimpse of the beautiful personal garden behind the fence surrounding his home. My patience was rewarded when Piet's group arrived, and he asked them if they'd like to see his personal garden. Everyone in the group wanted to see those beautiful blooming peony plants hidden in a gate of evergreen trees and wooden fencing. So Piet obliged and led us through his backyard and into the wonderous garden of peony specimens. Piet commented that the peonies planted in this garden were all of the roots he'd won at peony auctions through the years. It was his test garden, so to speak, for plants he might be interested in adding to his cut flower production at some point.
Piet Wierstra of Oregon Perennial Company
with Peony 'Ursa Minor'

Piet Wierstra's Personal Garden
American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
It was a wonderful collection of rare and varied peony cultivars all blooming in a small space, since there was only one bush of each variety in this garden. This made it a wonderful peony display garden for APS members to discover plants they may want to add to their own peony collections. All of the people in the garden were busy, like worker bees, moving from flower to flower, snapping photos, and commenting on varieties that caught their eye. It was nice to see everyone having such a good time and learning so much about new peony cultivars. Piet Wierstra's Personal Garden
American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour

Peony 'Super Gal'
in Piet Wierstra's Personal Garden
I found a few peonies that caught my eye as well. My favorite in the garden was Peony 'Ursa Minor' which just glowed, with an ombre center of pale to dark pink surrounded by darker pink petals. I was lucky enough to be able to snap a picture of Piet in the garden with this Peony 'Ursa Minor'. Two of my other favorites were Peony 'Super Gal', a bright pink colored peony with and abundance of petals and strong stems, and a white peony that seemed to be mislabeled as 'Eskimo Pie' (since 'Eskimo Pie' is supposed to be all white with no yellow or red showing). However the mislabeled plant appears to resemble Peony 'Minnie Shaylor' with its bright yellow stamens and prominent red carpels (which I also saw blooming during the 2018 American Peony Society Convention Tour of Adelman Peony Gardens). All in all it was a wonderful tour.
White Peony ('Minnie Shaylor'?)
in Piet Wierstra's Personal Garden

2018 American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner 'Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar'

Peony 'Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar'
2018 American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner
I don't know a whole lot about the newest inductee into the APS Hall of Fame, Peony 'Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar', the American Peony Society 2018 Gold Medal Winner. Peony 'Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar' is a bit hard to pronounce, but supposedly a lovely flower. I've heard that the darker pink speckling on the lighter pink petals of Peony 'Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar' is similar to Peony 'The Fawn', but this plant grown side by side is supposed to be better. It was registered by Friend in 1996, and the registration information says it was named for his Mother. This peony plant is supposedly the child of Peony 'Kansas' (a Southern Peony Best Performer) and Peony 'Sarah Berhnardt'. So I have high hopes that this plant will grow and bloom well here in the South, since both of its parents work well in our climate.

2018 American Peony Society Convention Tours Adelman Peony Gardens

Carol Adelman Giving a Talk
American Peony Society 2018 Convention Tour
Almost a week ago we toured Adelman Peony Gardens during the 2018 American Peony Society Convention. It all went by so fast, but having the photos around to remind me of how beautiful everything was just brings back happy memories. Everything, and I do mean everything, was in its place and picture perfect at Jim and Carol Adelman's Peony Gardens. Their gardens and fields were just immaculate. Every detail of the tour had been considered down to the smallest detail. Every flower in their display garden had been clipped to perfection. Every border was neat and tidy. Their slip of land really does live up to the URL of their web site - www.peonyparadise.com, Peony Paradise. It is exactly that.
Tractor Tours of Adelman Peony Gardens
Carol gave a wonderful introduction to her farm. She has the perfect mix of humor and brashness (or maybe just outright honesty) in her stories, and she is definitely entertaining to listen to. They also gave tractors tours of their expansive fields (growing expansive flowers). I don't think I've seen anyone grow peony plants or flowers as large as the Adelmans grow them. They seem to have the perfect mix of soil, rain, temperatures, and cloud cover to create the largest and most richly colored peonies in North America.
Flowering Peonies at Adelman Peony Gardens

APS Award Ribbons and Cut Peonies
at Adelman Peony Gardens
Inside of the Adelman Peony Gardens sales office, they had cut peony flowers displayed in vases along with their variety name on a placard right in front of each vase. On one of the walls I found a few of Carol's American Peony Society Flower Exhibition ribbons, which appeared to be from 2001-2006. While there were many of them framed on the wall, I know there are many times that waiting to be framed somewhere. I bet she could fill up the entire long wall of her sales office with ribbons! I think Adelman Peony Gardens definitely has the most peony merchandise of any US grower I've visited. There were peony magnets, calendars, books, fertilizer, cut flowers, potted plants, and more. If you wanted for something peony, you found it.
Peony: The Best Varieties for Your Garden Book Signing
at Adelman Peony Gardens

Cold Drinks Adelman Style
While we were touring the gardens, the Adelman's also hosted a lunch for the APS Members on site. They had rented a lovely tent and chairs, decorated every table with a beautiful bouquet of peonies - of course, and catered in Panera Bread boxes for the meal. The food was very tasty - sandwiches, chips, a pickle and a cookie. Drinks were served Adelman style - in the bucket of a tractor's front loader! And of course, many people were lined up after lunch for their chance to get an autographed copy of Carol Adelman and David Michener's new book, Peony: The Best Varieties for Your Garden Book. Of course I needed a copy to memorialize the occasion.
Me with David Michener and Carol Adelman
Authors of Peony: Best Varieties for Your Garden Book

Adelman Peony Gardens' Display Gardens
The Adelman's display gardens could really be described as perfect, something that every home gardener would love to attain and achieve. They did have their secret sauce, aka Adelman Peony Gardens' Peony Fertilizer, for sale inside their sales office. It was a 10-8-8 fertilizer, with the nitrogen being slow release. Carol said that tulip and daffodil fertilizer was their secret, but I have a feeling there might be a little bit more to it than that. The Adelmans have really put their heart into their passion - growing peonies.
Adelman Peony Gardens Tour Talk