When you think of exports from Alaska, fish, lumber and zinc come to mind. Fresh cut flowers wouldn't be on the list.
They soon will be, though.
A niche industry is developing fast in growing and selling fresh-cut peonies, those blossoms much in demand and beloved, world-wide it turns out, for weddings. It's a small business so far but it's growing, and there seems to be an insatiable market demand at a certain, critical time of the year.
That's according to Ron Illingworth, a grower at North Pole, near Fairbanks, who also is president of the Alaska Peony Association, a trade group that has now been formed.
Alaska peony growers had 39,000 plants in the ground at the end of 2010 and the number is now estimated to grow another 21,000 in 2011, Illingworth said.
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