This account of the history of the peonies of Spring Valley is comprised from interviews and reminiscences with Herman Redeker whose brother, John, began the peony farm, and Barbara (Merkle) Hartman, whose parents, Frank and Leona Merkle, bought a portion of the Spring Valley property in 1938 that included the peony fields.
Walking through Spring Valley in late May or early June will bring a pleasant surprise to the visitor who may be searching for wildflowers. There along the winding trail south of the cabin, he will find large, handsome, colorful peonies in bloom.
The deep reds, soft pinks and white flowers are large and fragrant. Many have creamy white with deep red streaks running up through the large bloom.
Peonies are ancient garden flowers dating back to Roman times. There are hundreds of varieties of peonies which are derived from the old-fashioned garden peony. These come from either the common peony of southern Europe or the Chinese peony.
The peonies in Spring Valley have been here since 1928 when John Redeker started a peony farm. He built the log cabin as his home from which he operated the business. He learned about the peony business from Klehm’s Peony Farm.
During these early years, he sold both the roots and flowers. There were acres and acres of the plants. If one stood facing west at Salt Creek, he could see peonies as far as Plum Grove Road.
As we can see today, they had a variety of colors. Red was the least popular as it showed up poorly if used to decorate a stage. Pink and white sold well; however, the best seller was the prized “Jewels Elie” which is white with deep red streaks running through it.
John Redeker died in December 1930. After his death, the peony business was operated by his mother Mina (Boeger) Redeker, his sister Eleonore Ackerman, and Mr. and Mrs. William Long who were from Oak Park. They no longer sold the peony roots.
They continued the business by selling only the flowers which were picked as buds, placed in cold storage and sold to Vaughan’s Seed Company. They were then sold to florists in Chicago and used for banquets and conventions.
The business went well until competition from St. Louis interfered, because it was located further south the peonies bloomed three weeks earlier. The trucking industry had also improved and peonies could be shipped into the Chicago market overnight. This hurt their business. They continued to operate the farm through the depression until the mid-1930’s when many farms were lost through foreclosures.
In 1938, the peony farm was bought by Leona and Frank Merkle. There were eight acres of peonies which the Merkle family brought back into shape.
Mr. Merkle supervised, weeded and cultivated. Mrs. Merkle, who was definitely a city lady, fell in love with the place and did more than her share of the work. De-budding was done by the three children, Barbara, Peter and Bill, who made up games and songs as they worked after school and on weekends for several weeks each spring.
“De-budding wasn’t all that bad. We used to sing, talk back and forth and invent games to keep from getting bored…this process went on for hours.”
“We used our forefinger and thumb to remove all but the top bud. Thus, all nutrients went to that one bud which made for a larger, more beautiful flower. We started as soon as the buds formed and kept right on going until they were all gone. We didn’t have much trouble with bees except when we were doing the dark red variety. They exuded a sticky substance which attracted hordes of bees and made it necessary to wash our hands. As there was no water around, we just wiped them off on our clothes.”
“Each row of peonies in the eight acres was documented as to color and genetic or formal name of every bush in that row. Every plant in that row is better.”
Workers helped each spring to cut and wrap these Chinese beauties for market. Each year, the whole crop was sold as “they were such fine flowers.”
“There was a formal garden of peonies at the top of the rise on the other side of the driveway from the cabin. There was one, and sometimes two plants of every variety we had. It was a real showplace. The National Geographic came out one June to photograph them and do a story.
Today, over 60 years since the farm was stated, we can continue to enjoy these lovely flowers which have become naturalized under the trees in Spring Valley.
If you get a chance, check out the remnant of the peony field at Spring Valley in Schaumburg at the beginning of June when the peonies are in bloom. Walk to the Merkle cabin and, from the front door, walk straight ahead. You’ll round the corner and see the bed on your right. If you look closely, you’ll also see random plants blooming in the woods that have managed to survive all these years. It’s a living, growing walk back in time.
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
History of Schaumburg Township 