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People lined up early outside of the E.A. Knowlton department store on June 19, 1928.

They were there to see Sarah Bernhardt, Martha Bulloch, Grover Cleveland and other examples of the finest peony flowers grown in southeastern Minnesota. The store in downtown Rochester usually specialized in men’s suits and socks, ladies’ fashions and accessories, and home goods. Each June, though, Knowlton’s offered something that came without price tags and could not be packaged in a box: the bright colors and fresh fragrances of 2,000 peonies.



The flowers, cultivated by amateur and professional gardeners alike, went on display on the main showroom floor of the store. The peony show was an annual gift to the community from store owner Clarence Knowlton. It was held, the Post-Bulletin reported, “to encourage and stimulate home beautification by means of one of the easiest grown and showy flowers that Minnesota has.

” The peony, the newspaper said, “is a flower with which the amateur gardener can get splendid results with little labor.” ADVERTISEMENT To prove that point, enthusiastic local gardeners entered their homegrown peonies in the show, and their flowers were displayed side-by-side with those grown by professional greenhouses. And yes, many of these peonies bore names, both famous and obscure.

Martha Bulloch was the maiden name of Theodore Roosevelt’s mother. Sarah Bernhardt was a popular 19th-Century French actress and worldwide celebrity. Grover Cleveland, of course, .

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