Gardening with Native Plants - Pacific Northwest
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Gardening with Native Plants - Pacific Northwest



Gardening with Native Plants - Pacific Northwest

Gardening with Native Plants - Pacific Northwest



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Gardening with Native Plants - Pacific Northwest Document Transcript

  • 1. Landscaping in The pacific northwest Native plants Advantages of Native Plants Plants native to the Paciﬁc Northwest evolved over thousands of years to suit our climate, soil conditions, and weather patterns. As a result, they require less maintenance, little watering once established, and no pesticides to remain vigorous and healthy. Woody native plants have deep roots that reduce erosion and allow water to penetrate into the ground. Native plants are particularly good for problem areas in the landscape. If an area stays wet much of the time or often grows moss, choose a native plant that tolerates wet conditions, such as Red Osier Dogwood or Paciﬁc Crabapple. For clayey soils, try planting Douglas Spirea or Paciﬁc Ninebark. To minimize streambank erosion, plant willows or Salmonberry. Native plants also provide wildlife habitat. Native roses provide cover for nesting birds while Beaked Hazelnut or Oregon White Oak provide food for squirrels. Native plants enhance the environment by intercepting and ﬁltering storm water. Water also soaks into the ground along their root channels. Because native plants do not require fertilizer or pesticides to stay healthy, they provide a healthy landscape for kids, pets, and the environment. Well adapted to our environment, native plants resist most diseases and, in many cases, grow vigorously enough to out-compete insects and diseases. Reducing herbicide fungicide, and insecticide use in the garden makes your garden healthier for kids, pets, and wildlife. Planning your landscape Salal First, carefully examine your landscape and inventory existing conditions. Look at the soil in several different locations. Does it drain well or are there ponds after a rain? Does your soil feel sandy or sticky like clay? To determine soil texture pick up a smallW amount of damp soil and squeeze it in your hand. Clay soil will feel smooth and sticky and your ﬁngers will leave an impression. You can usually squeeze a ribbon of clay oneat or two inches long between your thumb and foreﬁnger. Sandy soil feels gritty, doesn’t hold together well, and often slips through your ﬁngers. Loam soil will feel spongy and ershe be dark brown or black in color. Determine the sun’s path both summer and winter to determine how much light each section of the yard receives. Locate all buildings and utilities, including the locations of hose bibs. Make a scale drawing of your yard and include permanent features such as d S the plants you want to keep. 1 te wards
  • 2. Locate thirsty plants, such as hybrid tea roses and vegetable or herb gardens, near a water source for easy irrigation. Thesetypes of plants require extra water during the summer and gardening will consume more if you locate them far from youwater source. Plants are also easier to harvest when they are located close to the house. Native plants can be located in distantcorners of the yard because they seldom require water after establishment and often make a good privacy screen.Look for areas in your yard where grass or other non-native plants are doing poorly. In many cases this happens due to shadeand/or wet conditions. It may also be due to poor quality soil. Check the plant list on page four and choose a few plants thatdo best in your conditions. In many cases, native plants evolved together to create plant communities. Take advantage ofthis fact by creating a community in your own yard using complementary plants. If you choose plants of varying heights (e.g.ground covers, shrubs 5 to 10 feet high, and trees) it will have the added beneﬁt of creating wildlife habitat.Making certain you have three vertical (canopy) layers of vegetation, ground cover, shrubs, and trees, will make your yardmore attractive to wildlife. Ground cover provides food and cover for insects and small animals that often serve as a foodsource for birds and other wildlife. Shrubs provide food and protection from predators for birds, squirrels, and other smallanimals. Larger trees provide shade, nesting space, and insects for food. Providing three layers in your garden creates acomplex habitat that provides for the needs of a wide variety of species. A water feature, either as small as a bird bath or aslarge as a pond, also helps attract wildlife.Choosing the Right PlantsPick an area of your yard that you want to landscape with native plants. If there is existing lawn, it can be removed by cuttingthe lawn into small squares and digging it out with a ﬂat bladed spade or renting a commercial sod cutter. You can alsocompost the lawn in place by covering it with cardboard or several layers of newspaper followed by a few inches of woodchips or bark. Before digging deeply, ensure there are no buried utilities in the area. Call 800-553-4344 for utility locations.Check the plant list on page four and narrow down your choices to the plants which suit your conditions. You may wishto visit local nurseries to look at the various plants and determine which best suit your needs. Be sure to take the plant listwith you and be prepared to use the botanical name. For example, asking for a Mock Orange may get you the European Philadelphus coronarius rather than the native Philadelphus lewisii. Carefully look at the mature size of plants you want to include in your plan and allow the plants plenty of room to grow to this size. While the landscape will look a little sparse to begin with, natives usually grow quickly. Pruning large plants to ﬁt in a small area is a lot of work and may damage the plant’s health. It isn’t always best to choose the largest plant in the nursery. Smaller plants will normally experience less transplant shock. Native plants like Vine Maples and Rhododendrons are usually easy to ﬁnd at local nurseries, but other plants may prove more challenging. Check the resource list on page six for more information. Douglas spiera Proper Planting Believe it or not, fall or winter is the best time to plant native plants, especially trees and shrubs. Planting after March requires more supplemental watering in order to W establish a healthy root system. Before planting add three to four inches of good quality compost to the entire planting area and work it into the soil well. Amending at the entire site with compost will give your plants a much better start than simply adding compost to the planting hole. ershe Before planting, set the plants in their pots where you want them and rearrange for the look you like. General guidelines for plant spacing are 10-15 feet apart for trees, 5-10 feet apart for shrubs, and 1-3 feet apart for groundcovers. Planting shrubs d S under the tree canopy provides a layered habitat that will attract birds and other wildlife. 2 te wards Landscaping in the Pacifcic Northwest: Native Plants
  • 3. Table 1: Native Plant List e Using plant names from ad ft) s Dr reen Ev uou Table 1, go to the website, Sh t( y y igh g c id me W t nn ad is er et y Mo He Common Name Botanical Name De Su Sh So dept/ldplants/, to ﬁnd more Beaked Hazelnut Corylus cornuta X X X X X 20 information and pictures of a Blue Elderberry Sambucus cerulea X X X X X 15 particular plant. Deer Fern Blechnum spicant X X X X X 2 Evergreen Huckleberry Vaccinum ovatum X X X X X 10 Indian Plum Oemlaria cerasiformis X X X X X X 15Planting Steps Lady Fern Athyrium filix-femina X X X X X X 4 Mock Orange Philadelphus lewisii X X X X X 91. Take the plant out of its pot Oceanspray Holodiscus discolor X X X X X 15 Shrubs and Ferns Oregon Grape Mahonia sp. X X X X X X 6to see the root size. Keep roots Pacific Ninebark Physocarpus capitatus X X X X X X 13damp. Pacific Wax Myrtle Myrica californica X X X X X X 132. Dig a hole two or three times Red Elderberry Sambucus racemosa X X X X X X 15the width of the root mass and Red-flowering Currant Ribes sanguineum X X X X X 6about as deep. Red Huckleberry Vaccinum parvifolium X X X X X 10 Red Osier Dogwood Cornus stolonifera X X X X X X 153. Build a mound of soil at the Rosa species R. nutkana, R. pisocarpa X X X X X X 6bottom of the hole. Salal Gaultheria shallon X X X X X X 5 Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis X X X X X X 104. Loosen bound roots and Serviceberry Amelanchier alnifolia X X X X X X 20gently shake off excess potting Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus X X X X X X 5soil. Spirea Spirea douglasii X X X X X 7 Sword Fern Polystichum minitum X X X X X 35. Gently spread the roots Thimbleberry Rubus parviflorus X X X X X X 8evenly over the soil mound. The Big Leaf Maple Acer macrophyllum X X X X X 100roots should not circle in the Bitter Cherry Prunus emarginata X X X X X 30hole. Black Cottonwood Populus trichocarpa X X X X X 160 Cascara Rhamnus purshiana X X X X X X X 306. Place the plant so the root Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii X X X X X 250ﬂare (where the roots join the Grand Fir Abies grandis X X X X X X 250stem) is at the soil surface. Oregon Ash Fraxinus latifolia X X X X X 70 Oregon White Oak Quercus garryanna X X X X X 757. Replace the soil in the hole Trees Pacific Crabapple Malus fusca X X X X X 40so it ﬁlls the space between the Pacific Willow Salix lasiandra X X X X X 40roots. Tamp down gently to Pacific Yew Taxus brevifolia X X X X X 25avoid any air spaces around the Red Alder Alnus rubra X X X X X X 120roots. Scoulers Willow Salix scouleriana X X X X X 30 Shore Pine Pinus contorta X X X X X X 508. Water and add more soil to Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis X X X X X 200ﬁll the hole up to the root ﬂare. Vine Maple Acer circinatum X X X X X X 25 Western Hemlock Tsuga heterophylla X X X X 225 Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata X X X X X 200 Beach Strawberry Fragaria chiloensis X X X X X 0.5 W Bleeding Heart Dicentra formosa X X X X X 1.5 Groundcovers Camas Camassia quamash X X X X X 1 Inside-out Flower Vancouveria hexandra X X X X X 0.5 at at False Solomons Seal Smilacina racemosa X X X X 3 Kinnickkinnick Arctostaphylos uva-ursi X X X 0.5 ershe ershe Vanilla Leaf Achyls triphylla X X X X 1 Western Trillium Trillium ovatum X X X 1 Wood sorrel Oxalis oregana X X X X X 0.5 d S d S 3 te wards Landscaping in the Pacifcic Northwest: Native Plants
  • 4. After planting it is always a good idea to mulch around each plant. To reduce weeds and hold water around the roots of theplant, consider mulching. Compost makes excellent mulch because it helps ﬁlter pollutants and immediately improves the soil.Relatively coarse wood mulch holds moisture in the soil well and provides good weed control. Avoid ﬁne bark dust whichwashes away easily and can clog storm drains.MaintenanceWhile well adapted to our climate, it is still best to water your native plants deeply and frequently during the ﬁrst two summersto encourage vigorous growth. Hand pull weeds as they come up to keep then from robbing your new plants of water andnutrients. Once established, maintenance is minimal. Established natives will only need water during the driest part ofsummer and will out-compete many weeds when properly mulched.Native plants mix well with many ornamentals. Robust perennials like Daylily, Coneﬂower, Helianthus, or Joe-Pye Weed addcolor during the summer. Well adapted plants like lilacs, rhododendrons, ceanothus, and hydrangeas, complement nativeswell and require very little maintenance. Don’t try and mix natives with tender plants like hybrid tea roses or annuals. Theseplants require so much water and fertilizer that they defeat the purpose of creating a low maintenance native landscape.Don’t hesitate to change your landscape from time to time. As time goes by conditions change: an area that was in full sunmay become shady as trees mature or an area that used to remain dry may become wet much of the time due to changes indrainage. If a plant does not thrive in one current location, move it where it may do better.Resource ListWSU Extension guide to native plants County Native Landscaping Eco-Trust Plant Native ofﬁce guide to natural gardening to Northwest native plants State University guide to landscape plants State Native Plant Society Your Own Native Landscape, Michael Leigh, WSU Extension Thurston CountyGardening with Native Plants, Arthur R. Kruckeberg University of Washington PressPlants of the Paciﬁc Northwest Coast, Pojar and McKinnon Lone Pine Press Written by Gary Bock, December 2005 Watershed Stewards is sponsored in partnership W by WSU Extension Clark County and the Clark County Clean Water Program. at ershe d S Extension programs are available to all without discrimination. Report evidence of noncompliance to your local Extension ofﬁce. 4 te wards Landscaping in the Pacifcic Northwest: Native Plants