Dan Hinkley held a packed seminar “Foliage First: Exquisite Hardy Plants with Great Folial Interest” at the Yard Garden and Patio show. This was my first time hearing him speak and I found him totally charming. He started the talk with a joke about flowers where the punch line was, “You have to bend over to enjoy it.”
He had a couple of tips, like using lots of self-sown annuals to break up your plantings (they tend to sow themselves where they look good) and using photo editing software to pull the color out of your garden photos. With the color removed you can assess your texture to see what you’re missing. Loree explored this idea a while back and the photos are gorgeous. You can see that I have way too much fine foliage. I need big leaves to break everything up.
The talk was mainly plant porn with jokes thrown in. These were my favorites.
Gunnera. It can really only be grown in the U.S. in Northern California and the Pacific NW. Dan said it makes gardeners elsewhere insanely jealous and gardening is all about making other people feel bad about things they can’t grow.
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| Image source: Wikipedia |
Musa basjoo. Dan leaves his in the ground for the winter, mulching them well.
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| Image source |
Panicum ‘Northwind’.
Darmera peltata, a shade-loving NW native that loves standing water but doesn’t necessarily need it.
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Podophyllum pleianthum.
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| Image source: Dancing Oaks |
Chinese fairy bells (Disporum cantoniense), whose new foliage emerges purple.
Melianthus major ‘Purple Haze’.
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| ‘Purple Haze‘ Image Source: Far Out Flora |
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| Image source: Dancing Oaks |
Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’. I’m getting this, I need this.
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Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘County Park Dwarf’, which my notes indicate Dan uses as a groundcover.
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Helwingia, a genus whose fruit fuses to the leaves. Super cool.
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Schefflera delavayi.
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I’m trying to figure out where I can fit a Gunnera right now because, come on, giant rhubarb! I need that.
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