Prairie Peonies – Cultivating with Beauty with Nick Maycher

 Nick is a florist by trade, a peony enthusiast, and a collector and appreciator of the visual arts. He is also the gardener behind Prairie Peonies. During his time living in Japan the peony captivated and bestowed a sense of wonder in him and inspired a lifelong passion for growing them. Join us as he shares his story, more about his collection, and everything about growing gorgeous peonies in Edmonton.

More about Nick

I started growing peonies in my early twenties and have been at it for about ten years now. I am a volunteer with both the Canadian and American Peony Society.

My display garden is located on a city lot in west Edmonton and after making the most of every available inch of growing space, the collection now contains about 130 cultivars.

The goal of the garden is to educate and inspire. The cultivars have been selected to represent the diverse forms and colours of the peony and the garden contains historic heirloom varieties, Gold Medal winners, trailblazing new introductions, fragrant wonders, garden novelties, best landscapers, and rare, collector varieties.

My recent focus has been acquiring some of the recently introduced advanced generation hybrids and rare varieties that won’t be found in many gardens elsewhere in Canada. I have also been dedicating a lot of time to hybridizing, and with that comes growing plants from seed.

The Alberta Regional Lily Society will be holding a bulb sale in conjunction with this meeting.