I spent a fair amount of time learning under a well-known native conservationist in the area, as well as working with a few university reps and some organizers of local organizations, and the general consensus I got of the area is:

native is relative to conditions. Plants move around to find ideal conditions and that has changed since when we started keeping track. Global warming is also a factor of plant movement. Species ranging from Northern California to north-western Mexico are really adapted to the conditions we have here now and shouldn’t be ruled out as plantings in the interest of keeping a local healthy flora.

Upvote to Agee to this consensus of the PNWNatives page or Downvote to Disagree.

I created this community for everyone that has a passion for their PNW native flora, wants to learn more, or just wants to share their experiences.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50141139

As we in the northern hemisphere are entering peak seed-gathering season, you should know about seed libraries!

Seed libraries and seed exchanges are places where gardeners can donate, receive, and/or swap seeds they've gathered. You can often find them at community centers and public libraries. This year instead of cleaning up your bolting/flowering plants, why not let them go to seed? My local library was thrilled to receive donations of seeds I gathered from my garden; it sounds like their seed library is quite popular, but there are more people interested in receiving seeds than giving them.

There are tons of seed saving resources online, but here are some quick tips from my personal experience:

• You don't need a garden to seed save; some people gather wild plant seeds for use in home gardens to improve biodiversity in settled areas. A hike at the right time of year and a little knowledge of native plants can go a long way! As with all foraging, only take sustainable amounts of seeds.

• Most seed-saving resources focus on vegetables and other edible plants, but consider saving seeds from ornamental flowers too, especially native and pollinator-supporting species.

• Don't save seeds from hybrids; they won't turn out like the parent plant. If in doubt, "open pollinated" plants and wildflowers are the way to go.

• Many plants cross-pollinate in unwanted (occasionally dangerous, e.g. in the case of carrots) ways. Seed saving works best when only one variety of a species is blooming at a time, and when there's not opportunity for a neighbor's or wild plants to contaminate the fertilization process. Because of this there may only be a few plants in your garden that you can save seeds from, and that's okay!

• You don't need a large garden to seed save; you'd be shocked how many seeds even a single plant can produce (especially in the case of self-pollinating species).

• Letting plants go to flower and then to seed is great for wildlife. Tons of insects and birds come to my garden every year specifically because of the vegetable plants I allow to bolt, as well as for my flowering perennials like herbs. The visits continue through the winter, when critters scavenge for fallen seeds.

• While you can use ziploc baggies, pill containers, and other repurposed containers for seed saving, you can also buy dedicated seed bags, which I highly recommend if you're collecting seeds to exchange/give away later (compact size, durable, easy to label, relatively cheap, easily recognizable).

• When donating to a seed library, the more information you can provide about your seeds the better! It's a bit more work, but I always make sure to label my seed donation bags with the plant's common name, scientific name, variety name (if applicable), and a few short bullet points about the species (e.g. "native perennial, pink flowers, bee magnet.").

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I love seed libraries because in addition to making gardening more accessible for everyone, they allow me to share with my community the plants that I've found grow especially well in my climate, as well as plants I've found are especially beloved by local wildlife. Seed saving for me is a labor of love, both for people and for animals!

Cross-posted from ![email protected] original post: https://lemmy.world/post/16458535

The Xerces Society is an insect conservation nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon. They engage in a variety of work to protect native insects, including publishing resources for the general public.

One such resource are their Native Plants for Pollinators and Beneficial Insects guides, which are curated illustrated lists of plants broken down by geographic region. The lists include basic growing conditions info for each species, as well as some info on how the plants benefit insects. They even have separate lists specifically for supporting the endangered monarch butterfly.

If you're a native plant fanatic like me you can cross-reference their lists with the USDA Plants Database (I wrote about that other great resource in this post here) to verify if the Xerces-recommended plants are native to your county, however the Xerces lists are broken up into relatively small regions so you're unlikely to cause damage or introduce problematic species even if it's not technically native to your specific county.

I hope y'all find these lists as useful/inspiring as I have!

From bottom to top: Trillium ovatum Oxalis oregana Polystichum mutinum Dicentra formosa Melica subulata

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/1775366

Our analysis suggests planned adaptation—stewardship that facilitates changes in forest structure and composition to improve alignment with projected climates—is needed alongside the expanded use of beneficial fire, even in some forests where fire was historically infrequent.

Here’s a gray-area plant that I recently received as a gift. Hastily handed to me, bareroot, after sitting in a hot car for a few hours, they were barely hanging on. I plopped them in pots, watered them well, and set them in a mostly shady area (~4 hrs of afternoon sun). The gifter had no idea what they were.

After about 2 weeks of life support they’ve now bloomed and revealed themselves to be Sweet Four O’Clocks (Mirabilis longiflora) native to the Southwest of the US and northern Mexico. A preliminary “is this invasive” search led me to find that they are not, but they’re closely related to Wild Four O’Clocks (Mirabilis nyctaginea) which are on the WA state noxious weed list.

They grow 4-5’ tall and wide and prefer loose and loamy soil (ha) and fairly consistent moisture. They supposedly bloom in the afternoon through morning and are always bright and cheery first thing in the morning when I rush out to water my pots before scrambling to work.

For the next few weeks they’ll be staying in pots and once our new patio cover is done I’ll probably plant them along the posts. That way I can keep on eye on them for bloom times, pollinator activity, and seeding/spreading aggression. We’ll see how they hold up to our northern climate. With their trumpet-shaped flowers, I suspect the hummingbirds will be thrilled if they thrive.

Supporting role: sword fern

If anyone has an ID on these little orange butterflies, I’d be eternally grateful.

Two of my favourite shady forest plants from the PNW!