Friday, April 8, 2011

Western Washington Native Plants in the Cascadia Garden

 Erythronium oregonum March 2010

Adiantum pedatum April 2010

Asarum caudatum March 2010

Maianthemum dilatatum May 2010

Dicentra formosa & Trillium ovatum March 2010

There are many western Washington native plants in my garden in Seattle.  This came about because my grandparents had property in Bellevue covered with native plants.  My father relocated many of them to the Cascadia Garden soon after we moved here in 1961.  I bought others at local nurseries.  (Almost all nurseries in the Seattle area stock native plants.  Go Natives! is a nursery that sells only native plants.)  I also collected a trove of native plants from a trash pile on private property that had been cleared for development on the Washington coast.  Gardeners here have differing views on native plants.  Some believe them coarse, common & unsuitable for urban gardens.  Others plant only native plants with environmentally conscious zeal.  Many are simply ignorant of them.  I believe it is wise to use native plants for ecological reasons, primarily because they grow well here with little or no irrigation, but also because they are beautiful plants.  I often use native plants in my garden designs.  Native plants are particularly useful in woodland gardens.  Most of western Washington once was forest.  Native plants can be seen in many Seattle area parks & public gardens.  Some notable examples are the Bellevue Botanical Garden, Discovery Park, Lakeridge Park, Madrona Park & Seward Park.  But there are many others.

Western Washington Native Plants in the Cascadia Garden
Acer circinatum (Vine Maple)
Adiantum pedatum (Maidenhair Fern)
Achlys triphylla (Vanilla Leaf)
Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion)
Amelanchier alnifolia (Western Service Berry)
Arctostaphylos columbiana (Hairy Manzanita) Arctostaphylos x media, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick)
Asarum caudatum (Wild Ginger)
Athyrium cyclosorum (Lady Fern)
Blechnum spicant (Deer Fern)
Camassia leitchlinii var. coerulea, Camassia quamash (Camas)
Campanula rotundifolia (Common Harebell)
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Glauca Compacta’ (Alaska Cedar)
Cornus canadensis (Bunchberry)
Dicentra formosa (Pacific Bleeding Heart)
Eriophyllum lanatum (Oregon Sunshine)
Erythronium oregonum (Fawn Lily)
Festuca idahoensis (Idaho Fescue)
Fragaria vesca (Woodland Strawberry)
Gaultheria shallon (Salal)
Gymnocarpium dryopteris (Oak Fern)
Heuchera micrantha (Alumroot)
Holodiscus discolor (Oceanspray)
Iris tenax (Oregon Iris)
Lewisia columbiana
Lilium columbianum (Tiger Lily)
Linnaea borealis (Twinflower)
Luzula piperi (Wood Rush)
Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) Mahonia nervosa (Longleaf Mahonia) Mahonia repens (Creeping Mahonia)
Maianthemum dilatatum (False Lily of the Valley)
Oxalis oregana (Redwood Sorrel)
Penstemon serrulatus (Coast Beardtongue)
Philadelphus lewisii (Western Mock Orange)
Pinus monticola (Western White Pine) Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine)
Polypodium glycyrrhiza (Licorice Fern)
Polystichum munitum (Western Sword Fern)
Quercus garryana (Garry Oak)
Rhododendron macrophyllum
Ribes sanguineum (Red Flowering Currant)
Sedum divergens, Sedum oreganum, Sedum spathulifolium (Stonecrop)
Sisyrinchium californicum (Yellow-eyed Grass)
Smilacina racemosa (False Solomon’s Seal) Smilacina stellata (Starry False Solomon’s Seal)
Symphoricarpos albus (Common Snowberry) 
Tellima grandiflora (Fringe Cup)
Thuja plicata (Western Red Cedar)
Trillium ovatum (Western Wakerobin)
Tsuga heterophylla (Western Hemlock)
Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry) Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry)
Viola sempervirens (Pioneer Violet)

2 comments:

Alison said...

Thanks for the great list, with links to pictures. I have a native area in my garden, but I'm not a fanatic about keeping it pure. There are some ferns on your list that I'm not familiar with. I have deer fern, lady fern and word fern, but the others look great too.

Your wild ginger looks so good. Mine always looks chewed on, I think maybe the slugs like it.

Alistair said...

The Erythronium oregonum which looks amazing is not often seen in UK gardens. We more often get offered pagoda, which is in full bloom in our garden at the moment.