Award-Winning Peonies

Our peonies are award-winning, and Britta and Luke bring home the ribbons! In several American Peony Society and Minnesota Peony Society Shows, their blooms received top honors – including Court of Honor for their intersectional hybrid peony ‘First Arrival’ and Super Sweepstakes Award for the highest number of ribbons.

The Organic Difference

Swenson Gardens is considered the largest organic peony grower in the world. We put a lot of love into growing peonies the natural way! We use no chemicals, herbicides, fungicides or stimulants. We produce no plants by tissue culture. Tissue culture is a sterile process of cloning individual plants, and we don’t do it here at Swenson Gardens. We only sell those grown the old-fashioned way, like grandma did in her peony gardens. We do all this to bring you the healthiest, most vigorous plants for you and your children and their children to enjoy for years to come. At the precisely right moment for each plant, Becky, Britta, Luke, ‘the team’ and I gently dig up the plant, divide and wash the roots, and carefully pack large, high-quality roots for you. We include instructions for planting and a lot of love!

What’s New This Season

To further our commitment to organic farming, we applied and were accepted into the WHIP program (Wildlife Habit Incentive Program). Last summer and fall we were busy planting 1.2 acres of pollinators and 7 acres of native prairie grass and forbs. The wild flowers will be a beautiful sight and provide live-giving nectar for our honeybees!

Because our fields are an organic “island” surrounded by conventional farms, we also planted 900 trees and shrubs on our west property line, which will assist with chemical uptake and provide a barrier for overspray. This was a large investment of time and labor, but we feel it is wise land management and ensures better health for our peonies – and us!

Come Visit Our Gardens!

Swenson Gardens’ peony fields are a breathtaking sight! We’d love to show them to you. Check our blog for updates or give us a call for dates and directions at 763.350.2051.