Paulk Peony Garden

It was Christmas Eve 2016, after most of us had left for the holidays, when the call came in. Katherine Paulk of Fairfield Glade, on the Cumberland Plateau, said she had sent a letter asking whether we would like to have her peonies. She had collected them from around the world and they were well marked in her front yard. Other gardens had turned her down and she was about to move south, where peonies don’t grow well. Her beloved flowers were going to be bulldozed. All 286 of them.  

Executive Director Jim Richards called in master gardeners from Putnam County to help assess the collection, and all agreed that yes, these flowers were worth preserving, and the unusual collection should be made available to the public. 

Paulk’s peonies now border a small lawn near the visitor center. They bloom March through May in colors from white to “black,” actually a deep purple. Some smell sweet, some spicy, and they stand tall in “cages” against a backdrop of evergreens on one side and sweeping low rock walls on the other. In the summer and fall, asters and black-eyed susans bloom, extending the floral show until frost. 

This garden, a cozy outdoor “room,” is a beautiful and fragrant place for a picnic, photography or a small gathering.

Thank you to Cindy Moffett for her work capturing our garden spaces so wonderfully in words.