MEDIA ADVISORY

Series of Peony Events Will Honor Supporters, Attract Participants From Across the Nation

FALMOUTH, June 10, 2005

Three peony events open to the public and based at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center later this month include a national cut-flower show, garden tours and an old-fashioned ice cream social.

Since the 1920s when a noted peony grower owned the property, Gilsland Farm—a 65-acre wildlife sanctuary featuring an award-winning green-design nature center, walking trails and a Maine Audubon Nature Store—has burst into bloom early every summer with thousands of colorful, fragrant peonies.

• From 6:30-8 p.m., Thursday, June 23, Maine Audubon’s annual Peony Bloom and Ice Cream Social will feature tours and history of Gilsland Farm’s peonies. Maine Audubon will also serve ice cream and recognize volunteers and members of the Peony Circle of Friends, those who have supported the organization for 20 years or more. Free for children and Maine Audubon members and volunteers, $5/nonmembers. Advance registration necessary; call (207) 781-2332, ext. 233.
  
• From June 17-19, Gilsland Farm will host the American Peony Society’s annual meeting and cut-flower show. From 2-5 p.m., Saturday, June 18 and 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday June 19, the free national cut-peony show will feature how-to-grow information, the chance to speak with national peony experts, and an extensive exhibit of cut-peony blooms. Typically a Midwestern event, the annual meeting and show was last held on the East Coast more than 50 years ago in Boston. Maine grower Elizabeth Babb—founder of BB Peony Gardens in Cumberland Foreside, a board director of the American Peony Society, and a Maine Audubon volunteer —helped bring the show to Gilsland Farm this year. Babb may be reached for more information at 1 (866) 607-3669 or ebabb@netzero.net.

• From 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Sunday, June 19, a tour of Maine gardens begins at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center with a walk through its peony beds and a visit to the American Peony Society’s national cut-flower show. The tour continues to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Eartheart Gardens in Harpswell and, following a seaside luncheon, BB Peony Gardens in Falmouth. Price is $59 for Maine Audubon and American Peony Society members, $65 for nonmembers; it includes coach transportation, lunch and lively guiding by local garden experts. Advance registration necessary; please call (207) 781-2330.

Until 1951, Gilsland Farm was owned by David Moulton, a Portland lawyer who cultivated and sold more than 400 varieties of peonies on seven acres of the property and from the 1920s through the 1940s gave blooms to grace the gowns of Portland high school graduates. Purchased during those years by growers in the United States and abroad, the peony rootstock Moulton cultivated still blooms magnificently at Gilsland Farm, which his daughter Ruth Moulton Freeman and her husband Maurice donated to Maine Audubon in 1974. >>More

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MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

With a 160-year history of connecting people with nature, Maine Audubon today is affiliated with Audubon’s national organization and has seven local chapters in the state. Support for Maine Audubon comes from 11,000 members and supporters, including individuals, foundations and corporations. Its headquarters are in Falmouth, Maine, five minutes from Portland.

Maine Audubon offers hands-on environmental education programs and activities that reach people of all ages throughout Maine. Through its two environmental centers and 11 sanctuaries statewide, Maine Audubon provides a diverse range of learning activities, classes, seminars, walks and trips designed to build lasting relationships between people and nature.

For more information or to become a member of Maine Audubon, call (207) 781-2330 or visit www.maineaudubon.org.

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