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Plan to attend the MWGS Annual Meeting & Board Elections on Sunday, October 15 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at Bachman’s on Lyndale.  Members will elect 4 Board members for 3 year terms.  The four current candidates are Mary Erickson (reelection), Christina Godfrey, Gaelen Kesler (reelection), and Jim Kirchner (reelection). Nominations will be open at the meeting for additional candidates.  Laura Becker Kubes, from KARE 11 Grow with Kare,  will be talking all about Peonies including:

Why people love peonies
Intro to the different forms of peonies
Extending peony season with the right collection
How to care for your peonies
Our harvest processes
Transition to living on a peony farm and why we chose this life
My other passions and what’s happening on the farm

Laura Becker Kubes’ Bio
You likely know Laura Betker from her time spent as a meteorologist at Kare 11 News. She still co-hosts Kare 11’s Grow with Kare weekly gardening segment but her main role has changed in a big way! In January of 2023 Laura and her husband, Bryan, purchased and moved to a 54 acre peony farm in Spring Grove, MN. The farm is growing more than 600 varieties of peonies, some of which are rare and newly developed varieties yet to be released. With their three girls, the family is embracing a country homestead lifestyle centered around one of the most popular flowers in the Midwest and around the world. Hidden Springs Peony Farm sells bare root peonies sold online as well as potted peonies and other perennials, trees, fruit and other rare and unique plants at an on-site garden center. Laura grew up in Minnesota just west of the Twin Cities in Corcoran helping to tend to the vegetable and flower gardens with her family. Gardening has always been a passion and now it’s a career! The meteorology degree still comes in handy with the ability to create a personal forecast for the farm. Pray for rain!