Day Trip to the Peony Fields

Up in Everson, WA, just south of the Canadian border, sits a peony farm with the most beautiful, giant peonies I’ve ever seen. Pure Peonies is a chemical-free peony farm that grows over 175 varieties of peonies! Did you even know there were that many different types of peonies? Some of the flowers were bigger than my head, and that’s not an exaggeration. If you are a peony or flower enthusiast, I highly recommend making the trip up to Pure Peonies if you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest! We visited last year when two of my childhood friends came to visit and it was such a fun day trip! Here’s some more info about our trip to the peony fields in Northern Washington.

How to get to the peony fields

Pure Peonies in Everson, WA is about a 2 hour drive from Seattle, WA. You’ll go right through Bellingham on the way, and the farm sits just south of the Canadian border. Depending on traffic, it could take an extra hour to get there or back, so I recommend either leaving extra early, or waiting until rush hour is over and going mid-day, especially if you have kids with you who aren’t as patient in stop and go traffic.

What else is there to do on a day trip to the peony fields?

Depending on your timeline, you could spend anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours at the farm. We had 3 toddlers with us, so an hour was about our maximum. The farm itself is beautiful to walk down the aisles of flowers, and theres a cute little garden area to walk through as well with a bench/swing. Other than that, there isn’t much else to see there. They do have a small bathroom in their barn/warehouse if you need facilities. You could probably pack a little picnic and eat at the farm if you wanted to, but we chose to eat lunch out.

After exploring the peony fields and grabbing a fresh cut bouquet of flowers, we were all hungry and headed over to a little town called Lynden, WA for lunch. It was just 10 minutes away from Pure Peonies. We enjoyed our lunch at Dutch Mother’s Family Restaurant, but there are a few other food options nearby that also look good. After lunch, we made a quick stop for some tasty ice cream at Edaleen Dairy just up the road on Grover Street. Bellingham is about 30 minutes from the peonies, so you could easily head that way for some food and exploring as well.

On our way back south, we decided to take the Chuckanut Drive scenec byway instead of staying on the highway through Bellingham. It is a beautiful drive along the winding coast with amazing views. It was the perfect way to end our short trip while the kids slept as we headed back south towards Seattle.

When are peonies in season?

Peonies typically start blooming in April and go through mid-June. We visited in early June, and there were still a lot of buds, but also a lot of very open and beautiful fluffy flowers. Wedding fun fact: Due to the short window of peony season, it can be tricky and expensive to get these flowers for weddings and events in other months, if it is your flower of choice. Garden roses are a good, cost-effective substitute if peonies are not in your budget.

Where else can I get peonies if I’m not in Washington?

During peony season, you can find fresh stems at your local Trader Joe’s or grocery stores. However, you can also support a small business and order online directly from Pure Peonies and get some of their beautiful stems straight from Washington! They ship all over the U.S. and you can even order peony plants from them as well. My friends have ordered from them several times now and have had no issues with the shipping process, and their peonies have been big and gorgeous and last longer than the ones they’ve gotten at their local store.

If you live in the PNW though, I would recommend taking the day trip instead, as the stems are much more affordable fresh cut at the farm. I believe it was only $2 a stem when we went! And you can enjoy the views and food along the way.

If you’re interested in other fun day or weekend trips from the Seattle area, you can check out my Lake Crescent post and my Friday Harbor post.

xx,

Kirsten