$\"My$ <\/a>

My Favorite Native Plant, Red-Flowering Currant, Ribes sanguineum at YMCA Camp Seymour..<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 What is a native plant?<\/i>\u00a0 Native plants are plants that grew naturally in a region prior to possible introduction by settlers during territorial expansion.\u00a0 They were not brought here from other countries or regions either intentionally or accidentally.\u00a0 Depending on the scope of the discussion native plants<\/i> can have a wide definition, including the entire United States or a narrower one including only those native to a particular region.\u00a0 For our purposes, we will concentrate mostly on those native to the northern Pacific Coast from sea level to the Cascade Mountain Range (northern Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and southern Alaska).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why landscape with native plants?<\/i>\u00a0 Native plants are better adapted to soils and climate.\u00a0 They usually require less irrigation and less maintenance.\u00a0 With some exceptions, native plants have fewer disease problems.\u00a0 Native plants attract native wildlife.\u00a0 Insects and other invertebrate pests become less of a control problem if there are enough birds, bats and snakes in your habitat to keep them under control.\u00a0 Native groundcovers can discourage the spread of invasive weeds.\u00a0 A natural landscape can also be left alone to regenerate itself through natural systems of pollination, seed dispersal and germination. Native Plants visually \u201cfit\u201d better in local landscapes than exotics; and can be used to create enchanting, woodland landscapes.\u00a0 Many are very attractive.\u00a0 Some native plants, such as the Red-Flowering Currant, have been reintroduced after cultivated varieties were developed in Europe.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If your goal is to improve the ecology of your landscape, then a large percentage, at least 80% or more, of it should be natives.\u00a0 It only makes sense to provide the food, cover and nesting plants with which local animals have co-evolved.\u00a0 Although some exotic plants may be highly attractive to animals, they are the \u201ccandy\u201d that can be useful to entice them to check out your habitat.\u00a0 Whereas, the native plants are the \u201cstaples\u201d that will keep the animals coming back or staying, including your habitat as part of their territory!\u00a0 You do not need to be a purist and can enjoy a few of your favorite exotics as long as they are not invasive or will otherwise ultimately cause problems.\u00a0 I usually like to plant my summer annuals in containers so they remain separate and easier to maintain.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Purchasing Native Plants:\u00a0 <\/i>Many retail nurseries now sell some native plants, but they are often limited in the quantity and species available.\u00a0 It is best to find a nursery that specializes in growing and selling native plants.\u00a0 Because some native plants do not transplant well, you will have better success with smaller plants that have been grown in containers.\u00a0 A list of native plant nurseries can be found at the Washington Native Plant Society Website.<\/a>\u00a0 Many nurseries have websites where they post what they grow and what is currently available, but it is best to call first to verify availability.\u00a0 A reputable nursery will only sell container-grown materials or will let you know if the plants were wild-collected legally with a permit.\u00a0 Many county conservation districts hold annual native plant sales, where larger quantities of small bareroot plants can be obtained relatively inexpensively.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

$\"The$ <\/a>
The Native Plant Garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Collecting Plants in the Wild: <\/i>Before collecting plants in the wild it is important to get permission from the owners of the property.\u00a0 Plant collecting in National Parks is strictly prohibited (permits are issued only for educational or research purposes).\u00a0 In National Forests, you need to check with the local ranger to find out what can be collected and whether you need a permit.\u00a0 State parks generally have strict guidelines that, for the most part, only allow plant removal for maintenance purposes.\u00a0 Whenever collecting in the wild, it is important to be conscientious and only collect where large populations exist and collect only what you can use.\u00a0 The collecting of seeds or cuttings for propagation is preferred over digging the entire plant.\u00a0 Some plants, such as most of our native orchids, are better left alone.\u00a0 Because of complex symbiotic or semi-parasitic relationships, these plants will not survive transplantation.\u00a0 The best places to collect native plants are sites that are soon to be cleared for development.\u00a0 There are native plant salvage organizations that use volunteers to go in and rescue plants from these sites.\u00a0 It is a good way to claim some plants for your own landscape!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seed collection and preparation:\u00a0 <\/i>Seeds should be collected at the appropriate time, when pods, cones or fruit have ripened sufficiently.\u00a0 Pods, capsules or cones can be collected just before seeds are released– further drying will often cause them to open so the seeds are easily shaken out and collected.\u00a0 If the seed capsules are already open and still contain seeds, the seeds can be shaken into a bag.\u00a0 The preparation of seeds contained in fruit is more time-consuming.\u00a0 The fruit needs to be macerated (softened and mashed).\u00a0 Sometimes it helps to allow the fruit to begin to rot in a bag or to soak in water.\u00a0 To extract the seeds from the fruit, gently mash the fruit to separate the pulp from the seeds in a bowl of water.\u00a0 Most viable seeds will sink to the bottom and can be separated by swirling the pulp and water mixture and successive decantations, leaving the seeds on the bottom of the bowl.\u00a0 Some seeds, such as Salal, will float and even resist the surface tension of the water, and need to be skimmed off the surface of the water.\u00a0 (Sometimes it is easier just to mash the fruit and spread it, pulp and all, onto the growing media.)\u00a0 For some species, seeds from fruit should not be allowed to dry out but should be planted immediately or stratified as necessary.\u00a0 For plants that produce nuts, such as hazelnut, it is often difficult to find ripe nuts before squirrels or other animals.\u00a0 Sometimes nuts are produced that have no viable seed inside, therefore, before going to the trouble of planting these, the nuts should pass the \u201cfloat test.\u201d\u00a0 After placing the nuts in a pail of water, only plant the ones that sink to the bottom.\u00a0 You may crack a few open to check to make sure the test worked properly.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
(This article was first published in the Peninsula Gateway\u00a0<\/em>on Sep 16, 2009)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0 What is a native plant?\u00a0 Native plants are plants that grew naturally in a region prior to possible introduction by settlers during territorial expansion.\u00a0 They were not brought here from other countries or regions either intentionally or accidentally.\u00a0 Depending on the scope of the discussion native plants can have a wide definition, including<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}