An Alaskan Winter

Alaska was appealing to both of us not just from a wildlife point of view, but also with a view to see how the peonies grew in such a testing climate. Our time frame to visit was three weeks.

Having made prior contact with some growers over there, we booked our trip to coincide with a Peony tour arranged by the Alaskan Peony Growers Society.

Upon arrival in Anchorage at midnight and it was still broad daylight, we knew this trip was certainly going to be different!

Spending our first night in a wonderful lakeside hotel, which coincidentally was the base headquarters for the Iditarod sled race, we were surrounded by images of sled dogs, bears, moose, furs and other wild creatures and immediately thought; this is Alaska!

In the morning we collected our portable home ‘TC’ (truck camper) that was to be home for the next three weeks, one can only describe it as a tortoise shell strapped to a Ducati. It had everything we needed and did the job a treat that even the hare would have been jealous.

Our first part of the journey took us down the Kenai Peninsula. This is a truly spectacular place and the scenery comparable to New Zealand. This is the Alaskans playground, National Parks and a fishing paradise.

Arriving in Homer our first port of call was to a lady who was one of the pioneer founders of growing peony flowers here. Rita Jo Shoultz, husband Leroy and son Shannon, were just coming into the busy time for their amazing flowers and harvest. Fritz Creek where ‘Alaskan Perfect Peony’ are based overlooks Kachemak bay and opposite is one of the 616,000 named glaciers to be found in Alaska.

Also in Fritz Creek ‘Scenic place peonies’ is another farm that is run by Beth Van Sandt with help from husband Kurt. They also grow beautiful flowers. Placed a little higher up Fritz creek is another grower Michelle La Friniere aptly named ‘Chilly Root Peonies’ being that bit higher these flowers are a little later than the growers below as the cooler wind that blows across the bay from the glacier slows the growth . Again the flowers looked amazing. Our timeframe did not allow to meet all the growers on the peninsular. Betty of Joslyn peonies a new grower and Ken Hahn and those of whom we met all made us very welcome.

Have to mention the fact that whilst in Homer we did a most amazing helicopter trip with Ultimate Alaskan Safaris, to basically walk amongst the Brown Bears. They were feeding on 1000’s of acres of sedge grass and catching the running salmon. Yes we were tourist …. But it didn’t feel like it on this particular trip we felt very privileged to share the Bear’s natural habitat. This was one of our highlights of the trip.

The Alaskan growers two day Peony tour was based at Fairbanks in the Interior. This city is situated about 190km south of the Arctic Circle and 933km from Homer. The TC was all good and ready to go, we had an interesting trip meeting some more growers on the way, Sue and Gary Lincoln of Giggly roots peonies. These guys were surrounded by Mushers and their dogs and the barking and howling reminded us of home, the difference being our dogs would be quiet when told to do so!

What was now becoming apparent as we travelled further North was the problem that some growers had was in difficulty of getting water to the flowers for irrigation, the rainfall is only 2 yearly average, and the snowfall although has great depth offers very little melt because it is dry and powdery mostly evaporating.

Travelling north we found the Coral Flowers seemed to struggle more but the pinks whites and reds grew well.

We called into Denali Park, wanting to see the Dall sheep, as alongside the Big horn, Mouflon, Argali and Urial sheep, are one of the most ancient. We found it hard to believe that we would have to sit on a bus for 6-12hrs (Stuart and I would feel like caged animals ) to see wildlife as anything mechanical was not allowed past a certain point which is good in a sense of park preservation.

The following morning at 4am we drove the 20kms as far as we were allowed in and did a nice loop walk and sure enough just like the merinos here in New Zealand, they had gone out to graze about a third from the mountain tops before the sun got up high. That was well worth it, then we saw the hordes of packed buses one every 20 mins heading through the magnificent park as we were leaving phew!

Snow-capped Mount McKinley was in full view standing 6190m above sea level making it the highest mountain in North America.

Our next stop was to Milt and Wanda Hakens at Fox Hollow peonies in Nenana .Wanda also acted as a packer and co-ordinator for other growers in the Arctic Alaska Peony Co-op and was a very busy lady.

The Peony tour from Fairbanks was organized by Ron and Marj Illingworth of North Pole Peonies. This farm tour took place over two days and introduced us to root stock suppliers Jack de Vroomen from Holland and Inge Shepherd from Oregon. Many other peony growers, many of which were at different stages of production from just starting planting to have being in the industry for 14 years.

From Washington State University and guest speakers, were Gary Chastagner a professor in plant pathology and Andrea Garfinkel a graduate research assistant who had just completed a PHD in the study of Botrytis they offered most interesting and informative knowledge.

One problem that seemed to be apparent up here was Perma frost and the decision where to buy and clear land was often crucial as to successful planting. The soils in most areas were very compacted alluvial silt and not fertile so the land could take up to two years to prepare and create the soil structure needed in order to grow these tough flowers. One method was to clear trees, add lime, a special mix of compost then grow, either peas, oats, barley, then plough it back in as green fertilizer. By adding bone meal, fishmeal and magnesium thus helping to create a soil structure.

The weed mat that many growers we had seen used in the south of Alaska was not as apparent in the Interior as this can cause the frosts to linger on for a longer length of time.

The Alaskan growers are as tough and resilient

In what amounts to be a most testing and challenging climate environment they have a pioneer ‘can do attitude’ a bit like the Kiwis and certainly are not lacking in ingenuity. The air temperature gets to an average of -54c degrees in winter and the record set at Delta Junction of -72 was set in 1975. However high snowfall is an advantage as it becomes added insulation for the over wintering peonies.

In an area from Anchorage to Fairbanks that has 19-20 hours of daylight in summer to only 3-5 hrs in winter everything is fast in summer. Folk stay up chatting till after midnight, shops open later, and traffic on the roads is more constant. Mother Nature is at work and the animals are busy collecting food to store, or eating food to build reserves for the oncoming winter and hibernation. The peonies grow quickly and what we would harvest here in New Zealand over 6 weeks the Alaskan growers can do in as little as 10-14 days. Our stay in Alaska saw temperatures of early to the mid 20’s. Beautiful weather.

Moose ………..Stuart and I was getting disillusioned despite the fact we had been through prime moose spotting areas down through the Kenai back to Anchorage and up to Fairbanks we had not seen any wild moose…….everyone had had them in their gardens ‘or just seen one …. Most peony farms had rope around the perimeters of the flowers to keep out the Moose because they trampled the flowers but did not eat them. It was not until we were heading back down from Fairbanks to Delta Junction that we started to see these magnificent animals with their huge rubbery lips……and babies.

Incidentally Alaska has a waiting list for roadkill Moose.

An Alaskan Conclusion…

We visited Alaska intrigued by the fact that a country of such extreme seasons could grow such beautiful flowers. Many of the growers had other jobs or interests from fishing, project managing, working for the oil and mining companies, Doctors, counselling, cultural advisors, professors, teachers, dog trainers , or just retired to mention a few.

We felt that most of the Alaskan folk both the ones who lived there permanently, or just for the summer had this wanting need and a pride to be sustainable, independent and self-sufficient. In Alaska some of the largest vegetables are grown in the world for local use. Offerings of the finest seafood in the world come from here flown daily around the world.

Connections have now been forged between us and our new friends and will remain so until we meet again at some point hopefully in the not so distant future.

Now that their Peony flower industry is growing and going forwards, they have the qualities and determination to make it work either with or without the government’s backing we say ……GO FOR IT GUYS!!!

Alaska is certainly a unique country that needs exploring more….. I’m sure we will go back and visit next time with snow on the ground and the Northern lights ablaze…