Dan Hinkley

I went to hear Dan Hinkley this weekend - he was at our theater here. He talked on drought tolerant plants. I've never heard him before, and he was hysterical. I had no idea he was so funny. It wouldn't matter what topic he was speaking on apparently - he's just a really funny guy.

His website gives a hint of that, but his spoken humor is much different than his written humor.

If you ever get the chance to go see/hear him, you should definitely go. The tickets were $25 but he spoke for almost 2 hours without stopping and it was so worth it.

Gwen

I so wanted to hear him!!! But Saturday is a day with my mom and she fell the day before so needed me extra. She split the back of her head open and had 11 stitches. She's fine, though, amazingly.

Anyway, aren't you a member of NPA? I think you could have gone for free as a group canceled at the last minute and the tickets were up for grabs as a freebie.

I know! I had already bought my ticket tho. I tried to pass on the freebies to friends and all I got was "Who's Dan Hinkley?" Duh! So obviously they were undeserving.

Gwen

I do so agree!!!! I am still wishing like heck I'd been able to see/hear him - I actually wasn't aware that he was funny . . . just wonderfully knowledgeable!!!

Ah, well - another time!

Even if one hated gardening, he's still worth hearing. I tried to remember some of his funny lines so I could use them, but I've forgotten them all. I had no idea either.

Gwen

What is NPA? Rachel

Northwest Perennial Alliance - I know Olympia has a branch, rachier . . . a friend of mine belongs to it.

I will check it out! Thanks Murmur :0)

When I typed NPA in a search engine it came up with: National Pigeon Association, National Parking Assoc and National Pharmacy Assoc!

LOL - none are quite as appealing!

I highly recommend NPA. Just for their open garden tours alone, but also they have great classes. I took one recently on copper trellis building.

Gwen

Type in Northwest Perennial Alliance. It pops up on google with 235,000 hits. Sounds like an interesting group.

Wish I could have heard him! He qualifies as a personal hero of mine. Heronswood is open this saturday. There's a thread on the NW forum that gives a link to information.
Gwen can you share any of Dan's personal recommendations for xeriscaping? I'm putting that type of thing in my front border.

On his website -- danieljhinkley.com -- he has a list of the plants he talked about in his 'drought' talk. His new place seems to be mostly drought-tolerant plants as I believe most of his slides were from his new property. He mainly just went thru slides and talked about individual plants.
He mentioned that those kinds of plants do not want enriched soil or lots of water and will not do well if you fertilize and have rich good soil.

Gwen

Off to the website! thanks.

I got to see Dan when I went home in June and he is a wonderful son. He was there taking care of his ailing mom. We talked about everything but Herronswood. Kind of painful for him. He has a new book coming out on Parrotia trees. We both share the common choice as one of the most beautiful trees on the planet. The poor man is living on jets giving lectures everywhere on the planet. His parents house is on a beautiful pond in Michigan and it is of course landscaped beautifully. His energy is still massive and I could not keep up with his lifestyle.

Glad you got to spend time with Dan, Soferdig. And sorry to hear about his mom. How does he find the time? I hope he knows how much gardeners everywhere feel for the loss of Heronswood.

Dan more than anyone mourns the loss of his child. He just can't talk of it anymore.