Last weekend I attended the Hardy Plant Study Weekend, which I mentioned in yesterday's post. It's a weekend-long (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) conference that took place this year in Bothell, Washington. It rotates every year between four areas here in the Pacific Northwest -- next year it's in Portland, OR.
I know some bloggers like to take detailed photos and do posts about every garden to try to give readers a feel for what it's like to tour the garden, and I love reading those kinds of posts, but I'm rubbish at putting them together myself. So I'm going to share some nice foliage combos that I saw. Gardens in this part of the country excel at cool, leafy gardens, and foliage is trendy (personally I prefer flowers). Flowers and quirk (there was even less of that). I can count on one hand the number of gardens that featured flowers. I'm going to see if I can get through this post without showing you any Hakone grass too, which, believe me, will be a big challenge (God, it was everywhere, and I'm sick of it).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCjSqzoJJx_TmY5lZENQf63EoztplsenuhvuiO8323m9QbJ4ZzAR9oYVe9vWP26myvY2-6BEBlWZNx1vuAYUA05vK82Xlv57uvCSB1twWVBymjFZ-ar-xZgpBBE7bqnWAvB6_2x0SeUU/s640/IMG_8323.jpg) |
Bonus flower |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1eUkcutm34j07ekRhpyHDOZy3Y2QNG5Q8DC8bkE3uInXHNfBBGDXamOzEuZkC1Oa9yYsh3sI7wa-YEj4_Dt6vQfLRWfgL7vA4_D7493vxvSBC5qLOk0Xgu7I7hVouvAENfKS58Gtqns/s640/IMG_8191.jpg) |
Bonus flowers |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xLVaFDUz3CZSYzxSq4Zo6EqokIOHLqSECdN38tvBDFyohjFP25-dnleNuuWM0WbGFYFAt1HluV086lHIWEu8zuy6qV5P0h8mmxMCXbCBoeEmDd_KDoN8eAXowlJB0WJY0Aas-rbadKg/s640/IMG_8412.jpg) |
Can I let this stand in for ALL the yellow and red/purple combos I saw all weekend? God, that got repetitive. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKJ0-DRmEq9UTtltSEbZXEC022i0S6C_YA2UeqZ0F4_gI6iYfSmwW2iJGuDFtWGwIAfU2I86twOpJTgn_2imNR5zCAwQp9-Fnz7UXu9lQeBjSQRZQltX84Qe7N37PbhGklUNjuzwOW88/s640/IMG_8768.jpg) |
Isn't that Loropetalum gorgeous? |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvlPy_uFge8lmQZZatJUfey_U-9oN81Ro6oiok1OzpVDLe_MTcdK4dEmMPxa8pIK2e259Lw8t8r2b61P97O0NHaTQGRvZL33aWvcbpdyMrC-wwjGhCuXTtc2k91mr92PbtlM5y_S2vcbw/s640/IMG_9239.jpg) |
Another bonus flower |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstbsTXEFbxxWxeLY1NB6rwkty03oSYtAC-9w64h1vLhn8ofmOodZLJXgBjBmGzAqafx6BZl-UhuQVm-dskjOfDWgPWUiN3grXCIv7BTDseN0SV3UmVp3qU7CXjBMWLjzv_ys5LQw2CK0/s640/IMG_9114.jpg) |
Oh no, a little Hakone grass snuck in |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkfRUT1bmHORVP040v2t3oySv0i0PFRvK_hyphenhyphenoJK966S57qD6z5bd4zYOkPVX8vgFY4MydZc705gWcPEn8yYdBOj08dz5lXVHhLdiEZpLz8MiA7nFr33Js-4EpArVjGkffmaXDmNBBdwFQ/s640/IMG_8105.jpg) |
Ah bugger, there it is again, I couldn't crop it out |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjch9ARLuI2DNy6ATLHACD7qG9HhDq9bq5Ep5pNSA8-ypo3crI7pwQ2TRidfFBLda4JG0OkuBad3KfrQ8jH6-04wppWQUBQJpLbBv3_aN3rzQRbql3Bui3oAOSZYW5CJYU_842SLVMQQGg/s640/IMG_8115.jpg) |
Eek |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpvVI8EypiB65ANXhzeGyzxNuUj9gpKwQunEmXwgyk4mYtL_Y_7y3V_91LewgH8SQIzUovf7R013woOUXbQ0LPbTDLbJlO2qwaWxpZoOfJOIdVyZfq4wELRCcX3SaE3l9KLNdh8-wNjY/s640/IMG_8124.jpg) |
Agh, help me |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8EfcYvt7WrtZr6IdXu5LzBDZJe9zVN49oipodVjClVBt2udc7bQmmeJwjNraHZF3gxehS8Q7yzxT67yj2bZ8Thf5CNc4AC_w9Y0WDhcWN_ZdO8m6gfD3F3DjCBjUx-DjuIXtWBnDBQ4A/s640/IMG_8130.jpg) |
Pry my eyes out with a spoon -- I get it, it looks like water, but come on |
I bet you're ready for some flowers now. I sure was, after four days of this. There were really only two gardens in the entire four days that were flower-heavy, and one of those was a commercial planting. Believe me, I latched onto those like a starving baby.