The Heartland Peony Society has come a long way since its humble beginning of a dozen or so people meeting around a table.  In the past 5 years that I have been a member of the society we have had numerous programs with speakers that have a vast knowledge of many aspects of peonies.  We have made treks to growers of peonies here in the Midwest.  We have toured gardens of our own members.  We have had demonstrations and workshops.  We have established a presence on the Internet with a comprehensive database of information on peonies and a large database of photos.  And we have hosted plant sales that have increased the population of peonies growing in this region of the country by many thousands. 

I consider this past year to be one of our most successful on record.  It seemed that every event we had went smoothly and in many ways was better than prior events of that type.  Also this past year we saw the result of some of our support with the printing of “The Genus Paeonia”, a comprehensive taxonomical work on peonies and closely related plants.

But now we look to the future.  This year also is looking bright.  Your society board of directors has been meeting and planning for another year of events.  2005 promised to be a very exciting year with many events.  Some of the events we are planning:
 

April	A trip to the Pacific Northwest during tree peony bloom season.
May	A tour of the Linda Hall Library tree peony collection.
May	A spring event during herbaceous bloom season.
August	A tree peony grafting workshop.
October	The fall program and fall peony plant sale.
October	Member potluck dinner with peony plant auction.

If you are not a member of the Heartland peony society this is your year to join.  Fees for joining the society is low; only $5.00 per family.  You don’t want to miss out on the newsletters so you can stay informed of the coming events. 

I hope you enjoy this year of gardening

Leon Pesnell