Pioneering Peony Distribution

Chicago-area commercial plant nursery pioneer Amasa Kennicott discovered how to store cut peonies for distribution to florists in the late 1800s. Peonies cut in the “soft marshmallow” stage could keep for weeks if refrigerated. Growers would cut the peony stems when the flower buds felt like soft marshmallows. Then, they would strip off the lower leaves, and bunch them for the wholesale market.

Refrigerated train cars, referred to as “reefers,” were just being perfected in the 1880s, developed by Chicago-based meat packing firms like Swift and Armor to ship meat all over the country. The timing was perfect for Kennicott, whose cut peonies traveled in similar fashion to florists throughout the country. An advertisement in the 1912 issue of Florists’ Review, showed that wholesale prices for peonies ranged from $4 and $8 per 100 stems.

There was little concern about stem strength because sellers cut the flowers before opening to be stored for wholesale use. Peonies wouldn’t collapse in a rainstorm until their petals unfurled and captured too much water to stand up straight.

The 1950s and the Interstate Highways Change the Game

As Americans settled into communities in the country, they planted the peonies most readily available—in their gardens as well as in cemeteries. Although not all peonies developed before the 1950s flopped, most of the readily available plants—like ‘Festiva Maxima’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ did.

By the 1950s, the interstate highways changed things up in a major way, permitting greenhouses further from city centers to ship all kinds of flowers—not just those that held up as well as peonies.

As the subdivisions spread across the country after WWII and the horticulture industry offered more and more “upstanding shrubs,” peonies gradually faded out of favor with home gardeners. It took several decades and hundreds of garden-worthy introductions to change that perception.