The following article was submitted by Jordan Kabat a Professional Horticulturist and Operations Manager of Solaris Farms in Reedsville.
We’re heading into early summer, and though the weather has been slow to catch up, the deciduous trees are nearly fully foliated, early blooming perennials have finished, and it is just about time for my favorite plants—peonies!—to put on their annual show.
As part of the Flower Power! Series sponsored by Manitowoc Public Library, I’ll be leading you around my acre garden in Manitowoc to show you some of my peony collection, which includes both a wide array of herbaceous and woody specimens (don’t know what that means? Tune in to find out!). My hope is that we will be filming at a junction point when some of the earlier blooming plants are finishing up and the midseason bloomers are just beginning. That way you will get to see a wide array of different flower forms and colors.
In addition to the different types of peonies that are available to the modern gardener (and why they are vastly superior to the old floppy varieties—or cultivars—you are likely used to), I’ll be talking about aspects of culture and care for this stellar garden plant and where you can find some of these advanced hybrids for yourself. Pro-tip: they aren’t available at your average garden center or big box store!
As the year goes on, I’ll be offering two additional discussions as part of this series.
Jordan Kabat a Professional Horticulturist and Operations Manager of Solaris Farms in Reedsville
A program in mid-summer will feature another of my favorite perennials: hemerocallis, or daylilies, as they are commonly known (and certainly not those orange ditch lilies you see everywhere), and various lilium (lilies) of different hybrid origins. As with the peony program, I’ll be talking about specific aspects of culture and care for these plants, and where you can find them for your own garden. Depending on what is in bloom, we may also discuss some other perennials in my garden such as clematis—another favorite, pronounced “KLEHM-uh-tis”, not “Kle-MA-tus” as we so often hear!
Finally, I’ll be leading a discussion in mid-autumn that will focus on peony propagation, fall clean-up, and also feature some of the rare specimen trees present in my garden that will likely be putting on a beautiful show of fall color. My hope is that I can spread awareness of and an appreciation for some of the more interesting garden plants available to us beyond geraniums and marigolds—no offense if you love these, but there is a much wider horticultural world out there!
If I’ve piqued your interest, follow me through my garden with MPL during the upcoming Virtual Program airing on Thursday, June 23, at 6:30 PM on the Manitowoc Public Library Facebook page (www.facebook.com/manitowoclibrary).
