ARTICLE BY: JANE FINCH-HOWELL Jane Finch-Howell blogs at Mulchmaid, where she practices zonal denial without a greenhouse. She enjoys simple forms, bright colors, tropical foliage, and anything in the Manzanita family. *** It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair… About 18 months ago, Ben and I realized… 

ARTICLE BY: RICHARD HOFFMAN Richard Hoffman is a member of the HPSO Board and his current interests range from identifying edible wildflowers to working edible plants into a mostly ornamental garden. *** One of the joys of gardening stems from experimentation. As gardeners, we’re always trying to benefit the plants within our garden, find diverse ways to utilize the garden space, increase garden sustainability, improve the quality of our garden design, grow food for the table, and provide more visual, tactile and olfactory beauty. Curiosity initiates garden experimentation also, featuring age-old statements and questions like: “I wonder what would happen… 

ARTICLE BY: SCOTT WEBER Scott Weber is a HPSO Board Member. More of his breathtaking photographs can be seen on his blog, Rhone Street Gardens. *** As gardeners, most of us at some point sort of settle into a certain design aesthetic…sometimes by happenstance, sometimes quite deliberately. One garden style, while not for everyone, is almost irresistible to those with a longing for spaces inspired by nature. It is the New Perennial Movement, championed by the well-known garden designer, Piet Oudolf. What defines this style…what makes it unique…what is its appeal? While closely related to the naturalistic style, which often… 

ARTICLE BY: KATE BLAIRSTONE Kate Blairstone is a botanical illustrator and second-term board member at HPSO, specializing in social media and inching the board toward new adventures in the broader plant-loving community. View her portfolio at kateblairstone.com, or follow her process and current projects on instagram @kateblairstone. *** If you’re reading the HPSO blog, odds are you have thousands of photographs of plants in your collection. I’ve realized I snap plant pics for all sorts of reasons: to remember a great combination, to remember the light, to remember the before and after; photographs are indeed for remembering. But to know… 

ARTICLE BY: JOANNE FULLER Joanne Fuller is an HPSO member and volunteer who gardens in NE Portland. *** When I moved to my home in urban NE Portland 27 years ago I was not a gardener. I’d had house plants, and had gardened as a child, but I never owned a home or had a space to garden outside. The house was dark, the house plants began to die, and I turned my interest to the “yard” which consisted of long-neglected juniper, scruffy grass and sick trees. I don’t remember how I found the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, but…