Short Lived Beauty
Garden centers offer anything and everything to fill our flowerbeds and gardens. Every once in awhile there is a hand-me-down that grows more precious by the decades. The Fern Peony is a rare beauty and very elusive. When it is found in a nursery or a greenhouse you may find a single stem selling for $40.00 or more.
The Wendlandt Fern Peony shared by many generatons
This year of 2013 the farm that was my paternal great grandparent’s homesteaded has been farmed by a Wendlandt for 150 years. Ironically, that farm is where my Fern Peonies were gotten from. Peonies grow from tubers and these tubers do multiply. Little by little the tubers have been shared from the farm in Penn Township of McLeod County to untold numbers of decedents. When my mother received her tubers they were sheltered and protected during the growing season and also mulched during the freezing winters. In time to come when my Mom felt she could trust us as adults with garden skills, having been honed, she shared with her four children.
As the tubers in my garden multiplied, I have made sure to have plants in several locations to insure that if one spot had winter kill, I would have a back up plant or two or three. I did share tubers with Orlin for his Arkansas garden but I have not checked with Martha to see how they are doing. As late as two years ago I started two plants for daughter Carrie for her home. Here is the unfortunate news: yesterday they came into their glory and today the winds are wicked and the delicate blossoms suffer.
We need to cherish our beauties while Mother Nature allows and take up the challenge to insure we will have them again for years and years to come. They love full sun and full sun means they are out in the open in our gardens, taking the beating of all of our seasons. Some things we just need to live with in faith.