Sjuts Peony Garden
My first spring adventure will be to the Sjuts Peony Garden located near Trumbull, Nebraska about 11 miles outside of Hastings. The garden is open the weekend of Memorial Day (Saturday through Monday) for viewing or for purchasing cut flowers. Peonies were once popular flowers for decorating graves on Memorial Day before the modern day use of plastic sprays.
Herbert Warren bought an area described as the "worthless forty" in 1893 and turned it into a paradise of peonies that bloomed through 1945. As many as 10,000 people a day visited the garden in its heyday.
"At that time, Mr. and Mrs. Warren had lived on the peony farm 31 years and had just finished celebrating their 35 wedding anniversary. Today, 18 years later, the farm is considered one of the state's major show places, and people from all parts of the country have spread its fame (Hastings Tribune, 10 May 1945).
The garden was sold off in 1945 after the death of Mrs. Cora Warren in 1945 and Herbert died 3 years later in 1948. For the next 20 years, the peonies were mostly ignored until 1965 when Howard and Carol Hohlen bought the property and worked to restore Warren's work to its former glory. They added new varieties of peonies and eventually, sold the gardens to Scott and Nikki Sjuts in 2010 who are currently the owners. I'm heading over Saturday, May 28 with hopes of getting some great photos and peonies!
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