Page 30 - The Hunt - Summer 2023

n an early May morning, the strengthening spring sun seeks to
break through a lingering haze that envelops thousands of peonies on moss-green hillsides. Black ants race up and down a stem whose orangish bud is nearly blooming. At the garden’s edge, a young rabbit looks
on in trepidation.
Meanwhile, just north of the
Delaware line along Cossart Road at Route 100, dozens wait outside the gate for the opportunity to roam among blooms
spread out like a skyful of fireworks fallen to earth. In 1920, a young botanist named J. Franklin Styer began
growing peonies and more for the cut-flower market.
His family was one of several in the Kennett Square area to cultivate blooms and, later, mushrooms. Located along Route 1 just east of the Route 202 intersection, Styer’s Nursery grew, becoming a local go-to for gardeners. In 2002, it was purchased by Urban Outfitters, which transformed Styer’s into the upscale Terrain garden center and cafe.
But the family name has carried on under Styer’s Peonies. Each year from late spring into early August, Styer’s fields in Chadds Ford, Maryland and New York’s Finger Lakes region supply cut flowers to florists around the country—many bound for June wedding ceremonies. Visiting the fields has become a burgeoning rite of spring for flower lovers in the Brandywine region and elsewhere. The Chadds Ford location has more than 55,000 individual peonies in more than
200 different varieties and countless hues. Some folks gaze
(Opposite page) Styer’s marketing director Bruce Mowday Jr.
in the storage cooler at
the old Hill Girt Farm.
at and photograph the peonies without even getting
out of their automobiles. Others linger to buy flowers, learn more about their cultivation and attend a growing list
of events.
The florist-in-chief at Styer’s is Richard Currie, who came to Texas from Zimbabwe to be in the oil industry. He later returned to Africa to farm flowers, which were flown to markets in America and Europe. Currie decided to come back to the United States, and he eventually began working for Styer’s in the 1990s. He bought Styer’s Peonies in 2010.
The Chadds Ford location has more than 55,000 individual peonies in more than 200 different varieties and countless hues.
A few years ago, Currie hired Bruce Mowday Jr. to handle marketing and public relations for the business. Mowday has experience as a local events planner and a designer for Dansko, the West Grove footwear company. His father, Bruce Sr., is a well-known author of books that celebrate Chester County. “Styer’s has had peonies on this property
28 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2023