Sharing a Passion For Peonies
From Time to Thyme
By Paula Dunn
When I noticed the Indiana Peony Festival was this coming Saturday, May 16, my thoughts immediately snapped back to a year ago at this time.
I must admit, I’ve never attended the festival. To be honest, I thought it was a relatively small affair at Seminary Park. Ha! I realized my mistake last year when I set out for the post office and got caught up in a traffic jam six blocks away from the park.
The peony festival is actually HUGE! It may be centered around Seminary Park, but you can follow the “Peony Trail” all over Noblesville.
It’s been something of an adjustment for me to think of Noblesville as Hamilton County’s “peony central,” however. I’ve always associated peonies with Carmel, thanks to a visit my mother and I made to the original Sundown Gardens when I was no more than six or seven.
Back then, Sundown Gardens was at its first location on Old Meridian Street/ Old U. S. 31 and the owners were the couple who founded the business, Dorothy and Earl Knapp.
Dorothy Knapp had a passion for peonies that she came by honestly. Her father, Russell Jones of Peru, was a hardware store owner who turned his hobby of raising hybrid peonies into a thriving business with a national reputation.
Over the years, peonies developed by Jones won multiple awards at the American Peony Society’s national shows. Perhaps the most significant of his creations was “Dorothy J.,” a double blush peony named for his daughter. It took top honors at the 1950 show.
When Dorothy and Earl married, Earl caught peony fever, too. In the late 1940s, the couple bought the land on Old Meridian Street (which I believe at that time was west of Carmel) and set about starting their own peony business.
They worked hard to turn 13 acres of brambles, weeds and poison ivy into a place where their thousands of peony plants could grow.They also built a home on the property with a basement designed to serve as a peony showroom.
By 1951, they were able to begin selling their peonies. Dorothy handled the business during the week and Earl worked there on weekends, when he wasn’t at his day job at the State Highway Department, and later, at Dow Chemical Co.
Like her father, Dorothy developed a national reputation as a peony expert. She wrote articles for national magazines, gave talks to various organizations and served as vice-president of the American Peony Society — the first woman to hold that office.
After a few years, Sundown Gardens began selling perennials as well as peonies. As time went by, they also added a fully stocked garden shop, a Christmas shop and a gift shop and gradually, the peonies took a back seat to other aspects of the business.
After Earl’s death in 1969, Dorothy continued on at Sundown Gardens, assisted by their son, Stevan, who established a landscape design division. By 1995, however, she decided it was time to sell the company.
The new owners later moved Sundown Gardens to its present location on West 186th Street in Westfield.
My first visit to Sundown Gardens was so long ago, I’ve forgotten most of the details, but I will NEVER forget that basement showroom. I remember shelves filled with jar after jar of freshly cut peonies. Visually, it was stunning, but what I recall most is the heavenly scent that filled the room.
Dorothy Knapp passed away in 2002, so she missed out on the peony festival. I can’t help but think, however, that she’d be tickled pink (“peony pink,” of course) to know her favorite flower will be the focus of that big celebration.
The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free. You can find details on the festival website, www.indianapeonyfestival.com,
Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at younggardenerfriend@gmail.com
