What is this plant?

[Gsquared]

Young Choe gave a lecture at the Bonsai Society of Portland. She was fantastic!

Many members brought their show and tell kusamono and I never found out who this gem belonged to. Any idea what plant this is? Leaves were about 1 1/2 inches long at most.

Oh, and if you ever get the chance to see a lecture by Ms. Choe, do not miss it!

Here’s a couple of pics.

 

[cbroad]

Looks like it could be Astilbe, also called false spirea.

They get nice bottle brush-ish type flowers. Colors can be white, red, pink, or purple depending on the variety. Decent bloom length. Some plants can stay as small as 12-18" tall others can get 3-4' tall.

In my area, they are a shade perennial, and can take wet soils. It's hard to find a shade tolerant plant that will also take wet locations.