Native Flora to Restore Native Fauna
It has been a couple of years since I grew this many seedlings and I forgot how much work it can be. Last weekend, I potted a bunch more into larger pots. I expect in about six weeks, some of them will be ready to plant out into the garden and others ready to sell or give to neighbors.
This time, the seedlings were native blue ryegrass, Elymus glaucus, and rose checker mallow, Sidalcea hendersonii. There were over 40 of the grass seedlings and about 20 of the checker mallows.
It was a classic spring day in Seattle, with heavy rain showers in between sun breaks. I worked most of the day getting the greenhouse organized. In the afternoon I switched to transplanting native seedlings. There were hundreds of Mimulus guttatus seedlings despite my attempts at sparsely sprinkling the pot with the minute seeds. I planted them in bunches–ended up with about a dozen pots. In addition, there were dozens of Achillea millefolium seedlings. I transplanted a few into individual pots and the rest three-to-a-pot.
Assuming these all survive, I’m not sure where they’ll end up. Mimulus love water and the new garden is pretty dry, so I may have to plant them elsewhere. The yarrows will happily live anywhere with part to full sun, so I’ll sprinkle them around the native plant garden and the memory garden and give any extras away.
Not long after these were transplanted, the REAL rain came. Here is what it looked/sounded like for about half an hour this evening:
I’m hoping the rain doesn’t wipe out the newly transplanted seedlings!
Two Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) seedlings had filled their 4″ pots so I took a chance and planted them out in our Homegrown National Park. They are small, so I had to peel back quite a bit of bark mulch. They look tiny and sad out in that big garden, but I’m hopeful the wet spring will help get them off to a strong start.
I pricked out the Collomia grandiflora seedlings today and the Lupinus bicolor seedlings. There are about twenty Collomias and eight Lupinus, now all in 3-1/2″ round pots. The Collomias had really strong root systems. Here’s what they looked like before transplanting.
The checker mallow seedlings are looking pretty good, as well, but not ready for moving on yet.
Yesterday, I saw my first Western Swallowtail butterfly. It flew through the yard and around the garden in the parking strip before flying on. Today, I saw what I believe was a Red Admiral butterfly. In addition, I saw a bunch of metallic green sweat bees on my Santa Barbara daily plants in one of my gardens near the Homegrown National Park. These are rare sightings for me right now, but I know when this park project takes off, we’ll all be seeing more of these native beauties.
At my favorite local native plant source, Seattle Native Plants, owner Mark Tomkiewicz has worked with me to get gift certificates available so I can start promoting native plants more easily with friends and neighbors. I’m going to send out some books and certificates this weekend. And now I can plan a promotional program here in the neighborhood to motivate folks to start planting more natives. Mark is a pleasure to work with–several of my friends have worked with him and had the same experience–he is generous and the plants are boisterous and healthy, and the value is excellent.
Anyone in/near Seattle/Shoreline reading this blog who has an interest in a gift certificate, please email me at tony.joe@comcast.net and I’ll put you on the list for some free native plants.
There is a 2020 video from Doug Tallamy on YouTube now that talks about the main points in his latest book, “Nature’s Best Hope.” You can find it HERE. His slides are full of photos of dozens of interesting caterpillars people in his part of the world can attract with their native plantings.
I’m in a bug group on Facebook (Pacific Northwest Bugs) and the members take amazing photos. I decided to get a macro lens for my phone and see if I can start documenting the bugs in my garden. Here are a couple of my early attempts:
The moth photo isn’t great, but it was good enough for me to identify the creature as a Toothed Brown Carpet Moth.
The aphids would scare a traditional gardener and a chemical response would likely ensue, but I was excited to see them because I know they will attract natural predators that will bring balance back to my rose shrub. If not this year, then next. The rose will bloom, anyway–maybe not perfectly, but if Doug Tallamy has taught us anything, it is that perfection isn’t a natural state for plants. Plants that are being eaten by native insects is the goal!
I checked on the plants this evening that were planted in our Homegrown National Park and they appear to be growing well. The maidenhair fern might be getting too much sun but it still looks alright.
I think of Dicentra as ephemerals, but they actually bloom a lot longer than most plants of that type. Mine still have a few fresh flowers.
How exciting to see the leaves on one of the thimbleberries eaten by some bug or other! They are adding to the food web.
People worry about insect “damage” but this is the whole point of a native garden for me. In a well-balanced garden, the plants won’t be overwhelmed by insects.
My camas (Camassia quamash) plants have seed pods forming. I need to research what conditions these plants need for their seeds to germinate. The packet of seeds I planted hasn’t germinated, so if my own plants have fresh seeds, maybe I can have more success with those.
Here are the Collomia grandiflora seedlings, growing quickly and well:
And below are the Lupinus bicolor seedlings, also growing well:
My Nootka rose in the memory garden/parking strip is spreading quickly via rhizomes. My first thought was to cut these suckers off. I realize now that they are free plants–I can separate them and add them to the native plant garden and also share some with neighbors.
One of the great rose shrubs I received from Seattle Native Plants is blooming happily. I’m not positive which rose this is, but it may be R. gymnocarpa.
I have a bunch of seedling roses that I’ve started over the years that I plan to add to this garden in the coming months. Roses are popular with bugs–over 100 species of butterfly and moth use native roses as a host plant!
I also have some lovely blooming lupins in the parking strip that are attracting native bees.
These are hybrids, so not truly natives, but I am growing some true native Lupinus bicolor to add to Tony & Leon’s Homegrown National Park. Here is a quick video of a busy bee:
Trying to isolate the actual specific range of native plants has been challenging. This amazing site is an excellent resource for determining where the plants are growing now. The photos and other information are extremely useful identification guides, as well. And the site is fun just for the photos alone!
Here are some example links to plants I am growing from seed that gives clarity on where they really are from:
Erigeron speciosus–I even have a photo on this page
Erythranthe guttata–formerly Mimulus guttata
All of the above appear to be native to Seattle, so I feel good about adding them to the garden here.
This milkweed is not native to Seattle, so I should consider these an alien ornamental in my garden.
The seeds that are germinating so far (estimated quantity in parentheses): Erythrante guttata ( 100); Achillea millefolium (50); Collomia grandiflora (30); Lupinus bicolor (4); Asclepias speciosa (50);
My entire life I have always loved wild roses. I would stumble upon them when hiking around and just be fascinated that such beauty could be growing wild. The smell is like no other–a sweet, unmistakably rose scent that stays with you forever. My obsession was rekindled in recent years on trips to Okanogan County where the wild roses grow all around in the woods and along the roads near our Tonasket cabin. It feels like the whole world is sweeter when all the wild roses are blooming and casting their fragrance out and about.
As a seed starting addict, I constantly grab rose hips and throw them in my pocket to start the seeds the next spring. The plant below is a product of my hip-tomania. My challenge is that I never know what the plants are, exactly, until they bloom and I can start sleuthing on their botanical identity. These are the first flowers I’ve seen on this rose. They are gorgeous. Preliminary identification by the native plant FaceBook group has this pegged as Rosa nootkana. I’ll dig deeper this weekend to identify it for sure. It is probably about five years old from seed.
One thing that makes me happy about this plant is that the leaves look pretty rough already because they are being eaten! That is the entire point–adding to food webs! So, assuming Seattle native fauna are eating my Seattle native flora, I’m a happy camper!
There is a park in Shoreline called Twin Ponds Park. I took the dog on a walk just to clear my head after a long day at the home office. In an effort to see how plants look in a natural environment, I wandered some of the paths in the park and saw some great plants in some wonderful natural plantings.
Finding natural places to observe is a great way to spend some pent up stay-at-home energy and see how nature gardens with native plants.
Here are some native bulbs that I have in the memory garden/parking strip. They have come back and are blooming well in their second year. I will add more of these bulbs to the front of the native plant garden.
It will be fun to plant these among some of the grass plants I’m hoping to have. I planted blue lyme grass and tufted hairgrass seeds.
