Tickets on sale for Georgeson Wine and Peonies event

The Georgeson Botanical Garden will pair wine and peonies for its annual fund-raising gala on Friday, July 26.

Wine and Peonies will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the UAF botanical garden. The event will feature peonies, wine from New Zealand and other locations and piano music by Victoria Salmon. Each participant will receive wine, hors d’oeuvres, a bouquet of fresh-cut peonies and a garden tour.

Garden program coordinator Mathew Carrick describes the event as an elegant evening that celebrates the garden’s peony connection with New Zealand. A couple from New Zealand, who toured the garden in 2004, encouraged horticulturist Pat Holloway to help develop a peony industry in Alaska because of the opportune time that peonies bloom here. Holloway had started variety trials at the garden three years earlier. The couple also hosted several Alaska growers who wanted to learn more about growing peonies.

The Georgeson Botanical Garden Society hosts the gala to support operations of the garden. Tickets are available at http://bit.ly/peonygala. They are $40 when purchased by 5 p.m. July 19 or $50 when purchased later and at the door. Attendees must be 21 or older.

The garden is located at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm, 117 West Tanana Drive. For more information, contact Mathew Carrick at at 907-474-7222 or at gbgsociety@gmail.com.