It was rather astonishing that a Canada Post stamp issued on March 3 resulted in no public ceremony or even much comment, despite its local connections.
The stamp was one of two domestic letter rate stamps produced in booklets of 10, and depicted Canadian peonies. One of them was a variety developed by William Brown, one of the major Canadian peony growers of his time.
The peony depicted, which he named Elgin, was one of seven new hybrid varieties he registered in 1952. It might be considered a classic peony, with full bushy blooms coloured a light pink with lavender highlights at the tips of the petals. It has a strong scent, and can last more than two weeks, on the plant or as a cut flower.
William Brown, born in 1880, grew up amongst flowers. His father, John Brown, was a pioneering horticulturist. He built large greenhouses in the 1870s, and worked for many years as caretaker of the Elora cemetery, which was a noted showplace during his years.
His son, William, spent virtually all his life around plants, but he was not a full time nurseryman. He worked most of his life at the J.C. Mundell Furniture Company, in later years as a foreman. He did not devote all his energies to his flowers until he retired in 1950.
As a youngster, Billy, as he was commonly called, spent many hours looking after his father’s geraniums. He developed such a dislike for them that he never grew them himself. His favourites as an adult were gladiolas, and later, from the 1930s onward, peonies.
He developed many new varieties, and eventually registered a dozen of them, the first in 1938. Brown sold his peonies and other plants, and even issued a price list under the title Brown’s Peony Gardens, but his was never a major business. He also sold cut flowers in wholesale quantities to florists.
Brown’s fields of peonies, neatly grown in rows at the rear of his Colborne Street house and across the street on rented land, part of which is now the Station Square development, eventually totalled more than five acres. In the early 1950s, the ocean of blooms, from white through pinks to red and lavender, attracted hundreds of tourists to Elora, many arriving in buses.
“Peony” Brown, as he was called by many people, was one of a handful of Canadian breeders of new peony varieties.
Reiner Jakubowski, a member of the Canadian Peony Society, has devoted hundreds of hours to the history of peonies in Canada. He has identified about 30 serious growers since the 1920s. Altogether, those horticulturists registered 142 new varieties up to 1975. “Peony” Brown, with a dozen of those, is at or near the top of the list.
Developing a new peony variety to the point where it is a marketable takes 20 years, maybe more. That discourages most commercial growers. Innovations have invariably been the result of work by amateurs and semi-professionals like “Peony” Brown.
Of the 142 new Canadian varieties, a large proportion are extinct, or growing unidentified in backyards. Jakubowski estimated that perhaps 50 of the 142 Canadian varieties still exist. Brown’s varieties, since he sold and promoted them, have generally enjoyed a better fate.
More than a few local people failed to realize “Peony” Brown’s stature in the realm of horticulture. He seemed a harmless eccentric, obsessed with his acres of peonies. He could be somewhat unpredictable. A brusqueness often overshadowed his sense of humour. He could be short tempered at times, perhaps a result of failing hearing, but he also had a streak of kindness that many people never forgot. And he was always happy to talk about his latest experiments and trials of new varieties.
Peonies enjoyed their greatest popularity in North America from the 1930s to the 1950s. During that time they were popular as cut flowers in the home and on the dining room table, and especially for anniversaries and weddings. That period coincides with “Peony” Brown’s prime years as a breeder and grower.
In 1946, Brown became the president of the American Peony Society, the first Canadian to hold that position. By then, his name was familiar to peony growers around the world. Two years later, with the help of the Guelph and Elora Horticultural Societies, he brought the American Peony Society’s annual show to Guelph, at the old Winter Fair Building adjoining city hall. Visitors from across North America filled all available hotel rooms in Guelph, and most hopped on a bus for a visit to Brown’s fields of peonies.
The summit of Brown’s horticultural career came in 1953, when he was elected the president of the Ontario Horticultural Association. In April of that year, the village of Elora honoured him with a banquet at the Armory Hall attended by more than 300 people.
In later years, he developed his speaking skills, and he became a popular lecturer across the province on horticultural subjects.
All his life he encouraged local gardeners, serving as president of the Elora Horticultural Society several times, and as its secretary-treasurer for 35 years.
Brown’s son, Douglas, acquired some of his father’s interest in plant breeding, and assisted with the development of new varieties when he was not busy with his duties as manager of the grocery department of Burt’s Department Store, Elora’s largest retail establishment through the middle part of the 20th century.
Douglas Brown drowned in a fishing accident in 1960. “Peony” Brown continued to work with his peonies, but began slowing down in the late 1950s. He sold the scaled -down operation to Wally Gilbert before he died in 1964, at the age of 84.
It is fitting that William “Peony” Brown be honoured by having one of his peony varieties depicted on a stamp. He was a horticulturist of international stature, and an inspiration to many.
There are a few other stamps with links to Wellington County. For Elora, a 1996 stamp depicted a painting by A.J. Casson, a member of the Group of Seven, who spent several summers painting in the Elora area. Frederick Banting, who was married to Marion Robertson of Elora, appeared on a stamp issued in 2000.
Reginald Fessenden, the inventor of AM radio who grew up in Fergus, was portrayed on a stamp in 1987. Dr. John McCrae, author of In Flanders Field, appeared on a 1968 stamp. And a 1974 stamp honouring agricultural research depicts the tower of Johnston Hall at the Ontario Agricultural College.
There are no doubt several other stamps that could join William Brown’s peony in a collection of Wellington County subjects.