A weekend road-trip north, with all the trimmings

I'm back from a long weekend up to the Tacoma/Seattle area where managed to squeeze in visits to two botanic gardens, shopping at five nurseries, touring a conservatory, attending two plant/garden festivals, speaking to a great group of people, seeing old friends, and capping it all off with a 3-hour drive home during an atmospheric river (epic rainfall); what a weekend! Here are a few photos of my adventures...Yes, I returned to the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden (RSBG), where I took these photos of a very blue Rhododendron campanulatum ssp. aeruginosum.
It really is that blue!
In another part of the garden Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’, the blue poppy, was doing it's thing. 

I thought the new growth on Rhododendron asterochnoum was rather tropical looking.
There's the whole shrub...
Rhododendron falconeri ssp falconeri


Parthenocissus henryana (silvervein creeper)
I passed up one in the garden's nursery, I'm regretting that after reading about it on the Great Plant Picks site.
Paris polyphylla
Polygonatum of some type.
I thought this was a sweet ferny vignette.
And because I can't help myself, some pyrrosia...





Leaving the RSBG and heading to Watson's (nursery) I encountered a little traffic backup, I had a nice view while we inched along (that's Mt Rainer, aka Tahoma). 
At Portland Ave Nursery (in Tacoma, not Portland) I was quite taken with this mossy rope/metal business.

A pulled back shot...
A view of Commencement Bay from Ruston Way in Tacoma. The weather on Friday was so lovely that once I checked into the hotel I went out and explored along the waterfront.
On my way to the Point Defiance Flower & Garden Festival on Saturday I stopped at the W.W. Semour Conservatory. I took so many photos that will be a separate post.
The Flower & Garden Festival was my reason for traveling, I was invited to speak at the event.
I stopped to listen to this excellent presenter giving a demonstration on mounting staghorn ferns...
...and then it was time for me to give my talk on Creating a Garden You Love. Here Marianne Binetti is introducing me.
My next stop was the Pat Calvert Greenhouse at the UW Arboretum. I had just enough time to walk around the visitors center garden and shop their plant offerings before meeting up with Seattle friends for dinner. I'm guessing those two small Agave parryi var. couesii are descendants of the one I saw blooming back in 2018.
I loved this wild mash-up of horsetail, Rhododendron williamsianum, and (I think) a hellebore?
Pyrrosia in a tree trunk!

Lewisia and sempervivum are a nice combination.
The sales area (I'll share my purchases at the end of the post).
And a sign with VERY specific instructions!
On Sunday I was thrilled to visit an old crush at the Bellevue Botanic Garden, Daphniphyllum teijsmannii 'Mountain Dove'...
**swoon**
The Hardy Fern Foundation's Fern Fest was my reason for stopping by the garden, I was so glad to finally be up in the area during this event, after several years of missing out. Sadly I missed out on most of the ferns that were for sale, evidently they were swarmed on Saturday, and I couldn't be there until Sunday. Oh well, it was fun to look around, and chat with friends—plus it's not like I needed anything!
Inside the garden's gift shop I was happy to find my book sharing shelf-space with Chanticleer Garden's The Art of Gardening.