Perfecting the peony
11:35 PM 6/14/02
Lesley Rogers Barrett Wisconsin State Journal

indent FORT ATKINSON - For his peonies, Roger Anderson is better known internationally than here, in his hometown.
indent"People drive out from Fort Atkinson and ask how long we've been here," he said. "I tell them 25 years and they seem shocked.
indent"People in Europe know me better than they do here."
indentAnderson has spent the past three decades perfecting unique, colorful hybrid peonies that have become renowned for their hardy nature and non-drooping stems. He's created and named 28 varieties of the flower, including one of the first brilliant yellow blooms.
indent"I don't like to say this ... but I will, because I've been told," Anderson said. "It's the best yellow out there."
indentHe sells thousands of peonies every year, shipping them across the United States and Europe, especially Holland and Germany. His prize yellow intersectional hybrid peony, which he named Bartzella (after former Pastor Bartz at the Faith Community Church in Fort Atkinson), costs $250 a plant.
indentAnd customers are willing to pay plenty for his peonies. For several years in a row, one woman in Canada spent $35,000 annually, and a man in Holland recently placed a $64,000 peony order.
indent"This started out as a hobby 30 years ago," Anderson said. "Now we have a world-wide business we can't hardly handle."
indentWithout any hired help, Anderson, 64, and his wife Sandra, 60, run the business, five miles south of Fort Atkinson off Highway 26. Their four adult children pitch in for a few weeks in the fall, when the plants are dug up and shipped to customers.
indentHe's been featured in documentaries, magazines and written about in a half-dozen gardening books. He speaks nationally at gardening conventions and meetings. But in May and June - peak peony season - Anderson rarely leaves his home, because people come to him.
indentBusloads of groups take official tours and other people just stop by unannounced to stroll the acres of peonies and other flowers. He has some regulars who drive the few miles from downtown Fort Atkinson at noon to sit in his 10-acre garden every day to eat their lunch. Anderson is never at a loss of words for his many guests.
indent"I enjoy talking to the old ladies," Anderson said. "Of course, those old ladies are getting younger and younger every year."
indentOn Thursday, a group of women from Janesville stopped by to tour the garden.
indent"I've never seen a yellow peony before today," said Ira Sathre.
indentOne horticulture expert calls Anderson's bright yellow flower "exceedingly rare."
indent"Roger Anderson has revolutionized the peony world by producing a range of new hybrid peonies - crosses between the typical garden peonies and the woody or tree peonies from China," said Jim Waddick, a member of the Heartland Peony Society based in Kansas City, Mo.
indentNew breeds are created by cross-pollinating the male stamen and female stigma. Then he put bags on the plant, to keep insects away. It's a tedious process that doesn't always result in flowers Anderson can sell.
indent"I've gotten some really weird stuff," Anderson said.
indentMany of his peonies change color during their bloom. And if cut back in July, they re-bloom before the frost, he said.
indentFrom seed to flower, it takes about five years to create a new plant. Then, it takes another 15 to 20 years to divide the plant enough to sell.
indentAnderson names flowers after his grandchildren and family members, or whatever comes to mind. He said friends give him flack for naming a flower Hillary, after Hillary Clinton. He also occasionally gets kidded about the name of his business: Callie's Beaux Jardin.
indent"People ask, what the heck is a Norwegian doing with a French-named garden?" Anderson said.
indentCallie was the name of a beloved dog, and his daughter, who was in a high school French class at the time, came up with the remaining words for "beautiful garden."
indentAnderson said he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon, although he admits he'd like to see his family continue the business he started with 13 plants he bought for $40.
indent"My friends say, 'why don't you quit, you're getting old,'" Anderson said. "But I can't think of anything more delightful than when my time comes, I'll be lying face down in the dirt out here."
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