Wetter, cooler weather is coming. The timing seemed right for planting natives in the garden and lawn today.
My experiment to add natives to the lawn includes Douglas aster and Puget gumweed seedlings planted in a wide strip toward the street. This will allow me to mow low around them but keep the strip they are in longer.
Here is what it looked like today.
These two robust native should be able to survive living in a lawn as long as they get to grow a few inches tall. Come summer, I expect them to bloom on stocky, short stems. I may plant camas bulbs along that same strip when they land in November. Stay tuned to so how this experiment plays out.
More than three dozen seedlings were planted in the lawn. Additional plants were placed in the native plant garden. They include fringecups, Iris tenax, western columbine, sticky cinquefoil, and large-leaved lupines.
Funnily enough, a woman saw me planting natives and asked if I was just planting today or if I was giving plants away! She knows we give away native plants. That made me smile. I confirmed that there would be a giveaway today. I rounded up 21 native starts and putting them out for free.
ChatGPT helped me design the fliers describing the plants. There were bitter cherry, osoberry, fringecup, red-flowered currants, tall Oregon grape, and one pot of salal. I am hoping the starts will all be gone by tomorrow afternoon! And just in time, since I grabbed a bunch of tall Oregon grape and madrone seeds on my walk today! I need room for new seeds/seedlings!