The Cook Peony
Family lore states that when the Cooks left Stockbridge, Calumet, Wisconsin in the late 1870s they took clippings of the peonies that were growing on the property. We know that they liked peonies, as they can be seen in later Cook photos taken in Unity, Marathon, Wisconsin.
As far back as my memory goes, my paternal grandmother lived in one side of a duplex that she owned in Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin. As with most homes where the driveway marches close to the house leading to a detached garage, there was a strip garden next to the house. Included in this small garden was an enormous red peony plant. Again, family lore tells the tale that this was an actual clipping of the peony that grew on the Cook property in Stockbridge. While I cannot speak to that, as we would have to analyze what variety of peony grew in Wisconsin during that time period, and was this that variety of peony, I can state that when my mother and I left the duplex for the last time that May day in 1986 following my grandmother’s death, we made the decision to dig up the peony, the Cook Peony.
I may never know if this peony can be dated back to the 1800s, but I can attest to the fact that this peony, which was included in every garden during my grandparent’s years in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin during the 1930s, moved with them to Nicolet Blvd. in Menasha, Winnebago, Wisconsin, and then on to my grandmother’s 1960s duplex, and has now lived in a garden at my parents home in Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin since 1986. In addition, a transplant has been happily multiplying here in my own garden since the late 1990s. That is still an old peony.
An update: In late 2018, I dug the plants out of my garden in anticipation of a move, as we had put our house in Appleton on the market. I potted them into large transplant pots and hoped for the best.
In March 2019, the peony moved to Rumford, Providence, Rhode Island. While Wisconsin was blustery when we left, Rhode Island Marches are mild, and to be honest, the ground never really freezes here. Looking around the yard, we noticed that there were many holes along the south side of the house. Plants had been removed. I chose a spot below the dining room window and planted in the peonies.
We moved Mom with us, and in late June 2019, I dug the last bit of Cook peony out of Wisconsin soil.
Returning to Rhode Island, I created what I am calling an Heirloom garden along the side of the garage. Here, I have planted not only the peonies but the Marie-Frank rhubarb that we also brought with us. My thought is that it will be very easy to explain to any future buyer that this garden is going with us.
While the peony is not as large as it was in 2014, it is thriving and growing and producing beautiful flowers for me to cut and place in my home. And we have added another 10 years to the history of this plant.