When walking past the native garden after a long day of work I spotted a gorgeous little flower! This plant was started from seed this spring, so it has been quick to bloom. It is Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium pulcherrimum. The plant is too small to be showy, but the individual flowers are spectacular!
I previously posted some of the beautiful flora from Lower Woodland Park, but this time it was a silent hunter that grabbed my attention. This was my first ever sighting of a barred owl! It may have been a juvenile–it was pretty tame and let me get close enough with my cell phone to snap these pics! How amazing that an owl (and maybe a breeding pair) live less than five miles from my house! I hope our neighborhood will host more fantastic birds like this.
Barred owls are one of those rare animals that are extending their range–they never used to be here. They started as an eastern-based species, but spread west in the Canada and now they are spreading along the west coast. This appears to be a natural dispersal–not due to any human introduction, but likely related to the impacts of humans on the weather, environment, and other species.
The NextDoor gift certificate giveaway for Seattle Native Plants Nursery continues to find native plant enthusiasts and those who are willing to try natives for the first time. In addition to the 24 certificates of $25 and $50 already issued to neighbors and friends, there are 16 people now on the waitlist to receive $25 certificates in early August! If an average plant from the nursery costs $7.00, that means 228 new native trees, shrubs, and perennials will get planted in our neighborhoods! What a great start to our Homegrown National Park, North Seattle edition!