2018 Minnesota Peony Society (MPS) Annual Educational Event

Saturday, February 24th, 2018

Bachman’s Heritage Room
6010 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 554419

612-861-7600 (for directions)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

11:00 am: Floral Design Seminar — “Peonies in Home Floral Designs”
with National Garden Club judge, Barbara Isaacson

If you’ve ever wondered how to make peony arrangements to enjoy in your home, be sure to join us for this wonderful educational opportunity. Come learn from a professional floral designer who loves to grow and show. Barb is a past president of the Minnesota Garden Clubs of Minnesota and a National Garden Club judge. Barb will demonstrate several artistic designs to enjoy in your home. 

12:00 noon: MPS Social 

12:30 pm: Membership Business Meeting — Come and hear about our plans for 2018

1:00 pm — 3:00 pm: Peony Culture Seminar:

“What’s is a Flower” with Lorē Sampson
“The Peony Farmer” with Jim Sampson

Jim & Lorē Sampson own Rarity Gardens, Mt Hood, Oregon

Lorē will provide a close-up exploration of the peony flower including an introduction to classification accompanied by an explanation of the flower’s evolutionary journey and transformation through hybridizing. She will also discuss how to evaluate and select peonies for the landscape including an introduction to the scoring system used by the American Peony Society for Award of Landscape Merit selections. Lorē is Vice President of the American Peony Society.

Jim will present an entertaining and widely divergent, “bird walk” of methods and observations he has had – and often employs – as the one and only field hand at Rarity Gardens. His “Hints from Heloise” compendium of labor saving tricks and practices are the result of years of DIY farming that encompass field and seedbed preparation, cultivation and irrigation, weed management, potting mixes, peony “cuttings” and deterring garden pests.

Free and open to the public!