PEONIES PLUS began in 2001 on 4 city lots in Shelton, Washington, as a post retirement busy work with a plant that we have loved for decades. The 4500 plant operation was originally set up to do cut flowers wholesale. By 2005 it became obvious to us that there was a demand for quality peony cuts that far exceeded our limited production and a demand for retail sales of both the cut flowers and roots. We also wanted to experiment with other crops suitable for the floral industry.
Thus we bought 5+ acres just outside Elma, WA (Grays Harbor County) city limits. Unlike the Shelton soil, the Elma soil is deep sandy loam. We commenced having the site prepared and a residence built. In August/September 2005 we relocated the peonies from one of the 4 Shelton lots. We also bought hundreds of roots of different varieties and by the Fall of 2005 had over 6,000 peony plants in the ground, mostly herbaceous with several intersectionals and a few tree peonies. In subsequent years another 6000 plants were added.
We planned PEONIES PLUS at 41 Calder Rd, Elma, WA to be customer friendly and to encourage walking of the fields to observe, smell and enjoy the various varieties. Ground cover fabric is laid around the plants, thus making walking on the very flat pathways easy, and we have labeled the rows with the name of the variety for easy identification. We encourage you to come visit from June 1 until June 15.