Peonies blooming at Georgeson Botanical Garden

The Hermione variety of peony can be seen at the Georgeson.

The UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden invites the public to enjoy its peonies in full bloom.

The garden will host Peonies in Bloom July 1-12, an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the big, showy “wedding flower” at the height of its bloom. The flowers emerge from buds by mid- to late June in Fairbanks.

The garden has about 150 varieties of peonies in a rainbow of colors, including white, pink, yellow and red. Most were planted as part of research and variety trials undertaken at the garden, beginning in 2001. The research has helped contribute to a successful industry and horticultural export for Alaska.

The garden is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Labor Day weekend. Admission is $5. For more information, contact Mathew Carrick at 474-7222 or mtcarrick@alaska.edu.

Bash/Mud Day draws a good crowd

Mud was a big attraction at the Birthday Bash and
Mud Day.

Despite occasional rain drizzles, the Georgeson Birthday Bash and Mud Day attracted than 300 visitors Sunday to the Georgeson Botanical Garden.

People enjoyed the music, garden walks, birthday cake and watching kids cavort in the mud pit. Activities for young visitors included face painting, sculpting with clay, creating bubbles and mud pies, painting with dirt, walking the shrub maze and handling composting worms. Kids especially favored the mud holes. A lengthy line formed for the opportunity to slide on plastic and splash into a watery mud pit.

A young girl, waiting for her turn, said, expectantly: “It’s gross. I know it’s going to be gross.”

Kids in an adjacent mud hole flung mud on each other and created mud pies.

Admiring visitors snapped photos of the garden’s flowers, including multiple varieties of peonies, which are beginning to bloom.

The event celebrates summer in the garden and the 168th birthday of Charles Georgeson, an agronomist who founded experiment stations in Alaska.

Mud Day is sponsored by the garden, the Georgeson Botanical Garden Society and the UAF School of Natural Resources and Extension. The garden is open through Labor Day weekend, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Admission is $5. Tours begin Fridays at 2 p.m. and meet at the entrance kiosk.

A young artist shows off the artwork he created on
a paint wheel.

Face painting artistry at work.

Birthday Bash and Mud Day coming to Georgeson

A reveler celebrates in the mud pit last year.

The Georgeson Birthday Bash and Mud Day will take place June 23 in the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden.

The event will include kids' activities, live music and, of course, a giant mud pit for romping in. Activities will include making mud pies and clay sculptures, painting with dirt, storytime, a spinning color wheel, bubbles and information booths. The public is also invited to enjoy the garden and birthday cake to celebrate its namesake, Charles Georgeson.

Information booths and activities will be available from noon to 2 p.m., and the mud pit will be open from 1 to 3 p.m. Admission is $5 per family.

The garden started hosting Mud Day in 2013, and the mud pit remains a big draw, according to Mathew Carrick, the garden’s program coordinator.

“Kids find it so fun,” he said.

More than 600 people attended last year’s event, which combined Mud Day with a birthday celebration for Georgeson, an agronomist who founded experiment stations in Alaska.

Fairbanks artist Heidi Morel and several community organizations, including the Fairbanks Children’s Museum and the Interior Alaska Food Network, will provide activities. The Fairbanks Community Food Bank will collect food donations. The Georgeson Botanical Garden Society, the Georgeson Botanical Garden and the UAF School of Natural Resources and Extension sponsor the event.

Water will be available for cleaning off, and towels are recommended. The garden is located at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm, 117 W. Tanana Drive. To help alleviate parking congestion, a shuttle will run from the Nenana parking lot, across Tanana Loop from the Patty Gym, from 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information, contact Carrick at 907-474-7222 or email gbgsociety@gmail.com.

More mud pit action at the 2018 Georgeson Birthday Bash.