The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon

What is HPSO?

The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, commonly known as HPSO, is a non-profit volunteer organization for all gardeners: beginning or experienced, amateur or professional. Founded in 1985 and dedicated to the promotion of hardy herbaceous perennials, the Society now has nearly 2,000 members throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. If you live outside of Oregon and Southwest Washington, and would like to find a Hardy Plant society or group near you, see Links of Interest: Other Hardy Plant Groups.

HPSO provides a wide variety of activities and benefits to its members, including:

Publications including a Monthly Newsletter and semi-annual Bulletin of interesting articles and news.
Programs and lectures featuring prominent international, national and local horticultural speakers.
Plant sales twice a year with over 70 participating growers from all over the Northwest.
Interest groups, the grants program, the open gardens program, book sales, and seed sales.
Much more! Click on Public Benefits and/or Members' Benefits on the navigation menu at the top of this page to learn more about the wide variety of activities and benefits HPSO provides.

History of HPSO

The history of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon started in the 1970’s, when Marvin Black, a Seattle horticulturist, on a gardener’s exploration of England, discovered Great Britain’s Hardy Plant Society. Marvin was impressed with the organization’s possibilities and turned to his gardening friends for support in organizing the first American Hardy Plant Society. In June of 1980, this group sponsored the first Pacific Northwest Hardy Plant Society Study Weekend at Edmonds Community College.

Eventually, a group of Oregonians, tired of traveling to Seattle for garden events, met with Marvin to plan the beginnings of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Started by a small group of friends in 1985, HPSO grew in ten years to nearly 2000 members, and has held steady at that number since then.

The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon has subsequently inspired the development of several other gardening groups, not just in the Pacific Northwest, but here and there throughout the USA. There are now Hardy Plant groups in both the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic regions.

Our Mission

The mission of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon is to encourage interest in herbaceous perennial plants by:

Promoting education and understanding of herbaceous perennial plants through workshops, lectures, study weekends, classes, publications, book sales, mentoring, trips and tours.
Fostering networks and informal gathering of the membership.
Supporting worthwhile community gardening projects.
Sponsoring plant and seed sales or exchanges.
Encouraging the preservation of special gardens of botanical, horticultural, or historic interest.