I saw the post too late to attend- Bummer-
So- how was it? Are there any favorite foliage plants you just have to have now???
Julie

+Actaea simplex 'Hillside Black Beauty baneberry'- gets to 4-5 feet with maroon red leaves- it was quite beautiful in part sun/shade
+Japanese blood grass- very nice -bright red all summer/fall 18" tall full sun
+There were also two kinds of ornamental kale which were beautiful- they're not the head kind you see in commericial flower beds but grow 4-5ft tall with dark purpal foliage.
These are the highlights of course!

Oh-Oh-Oh- I saw some of the Kale at Bachman's last fall- FANTASTIC foliage! Like nothing I have ever seen before! Some gorgeous textures- and leaf structure- with upright habits and branching habits- and of course some with the fanciful colors so well known to the old round heads!
And yes- the newly reclassified cimicafuga to actaea are beautiful plants! If you do indeed get some- may I suggest that you plant it in more sun than shade. It may mean that you will have to water more often- but the color on the leaves will be worth it! I have 'Brunette' in most shade- and the leaves hardly color up at all. Oh- and the smell of the blossoms- as short as it is - is heavenly!
I tried a grass called 'Northern Lights' once- it is along the same lines as I remember- but- it did not make it through the winter....
I really like foliage plants! The glory is there all season- unlike most blooms which open and go to seed all too soon.....
I like the ferny finely cut leaves of dicentra exemina and corydalis- the rounded lobed leaves of Wood or Celidine poppies- the abundantly different Hosta and Heuchera and Ferns- the charm of the Hepatica- the fuzzieness of Lamb's Ears and spring time Oriental Poppies- the forbidding grey blue cool sharpness of echinops and sea holly, the giagantean splender of Colcasias and Ricinus- the tapestries in Caladiums and Coleus- I do appreciate those plants that have stretched their green primordial roots to the limits of blue, bronze, black, grey, purple, yellow, orange and red!
I am sorry to have missed that presentation. My winter bleary eyes would have had a great feast there.....
Ah- well, spring is around the corner.
Thanks for bringing back the memories of those ornamental kale- and the others!
Julie