A John Deere Publication

A smiling peony grower holding a bouquet of peonies

Rita Jo Shoultz was the first commercial peony grower in Alaska, helping launch the niche high-value farming industry.

Specialty/Niche April 01, 2025

Peony Pioneer

Bringing a niche ag industry to life in Alaska.

by Martha Mintz

"Hello it's Rita Jo, Alaska Perfect Peony..." is a greeting Rita Jo Shoultz sing songs over and over again throughout the day—and sometimes through the night— during peony season.

"You have to have a really good marketing program, but that's not everyone's thing. They like to grow, but they don't want to take that 3:30 a.m. phone call from the East Coast," the original commercial Alaska peony grower says.

She'll take the call. At 82 years old, Shoultz is a dynamo who's always got something to do. Back in 2006 the thing she had to do was help establish Alaska peony farming for the cut flower market.

"When it was realized peonies bloom in Alaska when they're not blooming in the rest of the world, everyone got real excited about the economics of it," Shoultz says.

At the time Shoultz was running a retail greenhouse business in Fritz Creek, Alaska, near Homer. The University of Alaska Fairbanks reached out to see if she would be willing to attempt growing peonies commercially.

"Nobody had done it. It was really, really awful," she says of those early years. There wasn't anyone in the state she could go to with her questions. She had to do the research herself and adapt the information to Alaska. "I made every mistake known to mankind and spent about $250,000 making those mistakes."

Shoultz doesn't back down from a challenge, though. She traveled to New Zealand twice to learn from established peony farmers about growing, cutting stems, shipping, and marketing.

As she figured things out, she was paid to travel Alaska to help educate others and establish the industry. There was a lot of excitement, as peonies could sell for several dollars per stem.

Eventually she became the lifeline for other growers that she didn't have herself as a new farmer. With her help, Alaska peony farm numbers blossomed to more than 200.

"People were calling me all day long. I really wanted to help them, but I wanted time to have my dinner, too," she says. Her solution was an educational blog. "I did it to help people, and for self preservation. It turned out to be beneficial for me, too."

As she rose in notoriety she had opportunities for unique experiences, like traveling to Africa to help establish a farm.

A favorite memory was from her early marketing attempts. She knew she had a premium product, but her experience at a large cut flower show cemented the knowledge.

She'd used her high tunnel to produce early blooms for marketing. She packed the blooms for display in her checked luggage and headed for the lower 48.

"I had never seen anything like it," she says. There were spectacular flower displays. Huge bouquets and arches woven with blooms. "We had galvanized buckets with some peonies and a few signs."

Alaska-grown peonies have something special besides the timing of their bloom, though.

"It's cooler here so they grow slower. As a result the buds are often bigger and the colors more saturated," she says. The buyers took note. "After that show I never had to go to another one. We had more offers from grocery stores than we could manage."

Above. Cool temperatures and long Alaska summer days produce large, intensely colored peonies. The premium cut flowers bloom in July and August when peonies aren't blooming anywhere else in the world.

Making sales. Shoultz has never been stingy with her knowledge or markets. She partners with other farms to fill orders when necessary.

When Shoultz started, she and her husband Leroy planted 3,500 tubers. They figured it would be a nice retirement project. When their son, Shannon, decided to join the venture, they bumped up a bit to 15,000 plants.

Between snaps as Shoultz strips leaves from stems in her packing house, she explains they aim to market 100,000 stems in their three to four-week season.

The Shoultzes have 7 acres of plants to upkeep, four large coolers, backup systems, processing facilities, and employees.

"This morning we picked 5,000 to 6,000 stems, cooled, stripped, and packed them according to size and shipped them out," she says. "If we get several days of sun we might pick that amount three times in one day."

And she'll be right in the mix. She's passionate about peonies and proud of what she's helped build, including in her community. In Homer, she took it upon herself to plant peony gardens all up and down the main street. The mayor declared Homer the City of Peonies.

"It's all been very rewarding," she says. ‡