{"id":12,"date":"2016-02-17T16:15:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T22:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mnpeony.org\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2026-01-01T11:57:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:57:52","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/?page_id=12","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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About US<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

The Minnesota Peony Society (MPS) purpose is to foster the sharing of knowledge and enjoyment to our members in the culture of peonies\u00a0and to promote the genus peonia<\/em>. We support educational events, sponsor a regional flower show and serve as a local affiliate of the American Peony Society. MPS is open to anyone with the interest in peonies. Our online mission is to keep you informed of events and share resources in the upper Midwest area of the United States, specifically in the State of Minnesota. You are welcome to explore our peony culture information and visit our photo galleries. We hope you enjoy our website.<\/span><\/p>

Minnesota has a rich history with the peony. Pioneers brought these treasured plants with them when they made their homestead here. There were also several early internationally known peony hybridizers who made there home here in Minnesota. They included Archie Brand, Alonzo Franklin, Eugene Lins of Cologne, MN., and the Brands to name a few. The first beginnings of the Minnesota Peony Society\u00a0started as the Minnesota Horticultural Society then The Minnesota Flower Society or The Northwest Peony and Iris Society which changed to the Minnesota Peony and Iris Society in the 1940s. While mostly the same people belonged to all three groups, the iris lovers didn’t get enough attention to discuss their irises. The members and officers were “all peony lovers” and so the societies split in 1951 although Iris Society members both continued with the old peony group for friendship and joint shows until the shows eventually split apart.<\/span><\/p>

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A.M. Brand and Edward Flynn<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Officers and Board<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Officer and board <\/span><\/span>members are elected every 2 years by the general membership and can serve a maximum of three consecutive 2 year terms. The Treasurer\/Membership Officer and Newsletter Editor can serve additional unlimited terms upon BOD approval.\u00a0 If a person resigns during the term then the position can be appointed by the president until the next election. Committee positions are also all volunteers with no term limits. Elections occur at the Fall Meeting (Root Auction) that is typically held the end of September. Officers and board members elected at that time officially begin their terms starting Jan 1 of the following year. Minnesota Peony Society is all-inclusive and welcomes anyone with an interest in peonies.<\/span><\/p>

2026 – 2027 Officers (elected at Fall Meeting of 2025)<\/h1>

President (for 1 year term Jan 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026):<\/strong> Mary Yee, St. Paul<\/em><\/span>
Vice President (1st term):<\/strong> Jill Stevens, Benson<\/em><\/span>
Recording Secretary\u00a0<\/strong>(1st term)<\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Mary Muellner
<\/span>Treasurer\/Membership:<\/strong> Linette Sorrentino, <\/span>Chaska
<\/em>Newsletter Editor\/Publisher <\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0Matthew Rentsch<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Robbinsdale<\/em>
<\/span>Past President:<\/strong> Mary Schwartzbauer, Hastings<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>

Directors at Large (3)<\/h1>

Kathy Julius (1st term)<\/strong>, Golden Valley
<\/em>Kristine Poelzer<\/strong> (1st term)<\/strong>, Arden Hills\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
David Sorrentino (1st term)<\/strong>, Chaska<\/em><\/span><\/p>

Committee Chairs<\/h1>

Fall Root Auction Chair:<\/strong> Linette Sorrentino, David Sorrentino, co-chairs, Chaska
<\/em>Exhibition Chair:<\/strong> Linette Sorrentino, David Sorrentino, co-chairs, Chaska<\/em>
<\/em>Garden Tour\/Picnic Chair:<\/strong> open<\/span>
Hospitality Chair:<\/strong> open<\/span>
Volunteer Chair:<\/strong> open
<\/em>Web Site:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>David Sorrentino, Chaska
Social Media Chair: <\/strong>open
Publicity Chair:<\/strong> open
<\/em>Scientific Studies: <\/strong>open<\/span>
Historian: <\/strong>open<\/span><\/p>

Bylaws<\/h1>

Click the following link to view the Minnesota Peony Society Bylaws:<\/span><\/p>

MN Peony Society Bylaws<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About US The Minnesota Peony Society (MPS) purpose is to foster the sharing of knowledge and enjoyment to our members in the culture of peonies\u00a0and to promote the genus peonia. We support educational events, sponsor a regional flower show and serve as a local affiliate of the American Peony Society. MPS is open to anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2231,"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/2231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mnpeony.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}