The subject line is a bit deceiving as the name of this volkswalk has always been "Peonies, Hostas and More". It celebrates the rich diversity of the many nursery growers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The walk starts at the Adelman's Peony Garden and meanders through the countryside where you pass various ornamental tree and shrub farms.
I pretty much spent the day serving refreshments at the halfway checkpoint which was located at the Sebright Hosta Gardens. This small nursery specializes in hostas but also sells some shade perennials and a few other plants. As with the Adelman's, the home of the owners is located on the property. The gardens surrounding the house are spectacular to say the least. All of the plants in the gardens were labeled; lilies, irises and peonies in sunny areas and hostas and heucheras in the shade.
If you look close to the right of the second photo you can see the seedling iris field of Mid-America Iris Garden which shares the same turf with Sebright. Following is a closer look at one of the iris fields and a few of the seedlings that are being evaluated. Hybridizers are Paul Black and Tom Johnson, well known in the iris realm.
My day working the checkpoint at Sebright ended around 3:00 in the afternoon. After helping pack up our hospitality gear I headed over to Adelman's to see what's up there and get some photos. Every year they rotate their peony crop out a notch from the house and this year it ended up probably about a quarter mile away so I didn't get any photos of the fields. Still their is plenty to see in the display garden and the indoor cut flower display.
And a few in the display garden to conclude the presentation.
We do always look forward to these pictures. Adelmans do such a fantastic job with their peonies. Carol is also an amazing flower arranger. I have never seen anyone place a perfect bunch of peonies together to light up a room the way she does.
Thank you pard. The pictures are stunning. I would love to be a part of that walk some day.
Our club received recognition for this walk as being the fifth most popular walk in Oregon based on attendance. That is not bad considering we compete with the highly populated Portland/Vancouver area and the walks they have up there.
We'll be doing the walk again around the end of May. I need to sign up for that checkpoint again! We bowed out of walking there last year due to problems with a property owner that we needed to cooperate with us.
Since it is a "sanctioned" volkswalk there is a choice of short (5 k, 3.1 miles) or long (10 k, 6.2 miles). People can walk for free or pay a small fee to keep an official record of their walks ("events") and distance totals. This Peony walk is very popular with usually more than 200 walkers participating. I'm involved because it is a good way to make myself get out and "try" to stay physically fit. I walk almost every day and have walked 26 miles since last Saturday!
It is on Saturday May 31, starting at Adelman Peony Gardens on Brooklake Rd. Their gardens around the private residence are also spectacular, with many peonies in a garden situation and an eclectic collection of companion plantings.
Yes, they are nice people! In the past they would give the volkswalk workers a bouquet of peonies to enjoy after a hard days work. She is also a volkswalker and came to our Jefferson walk last year.
