Some of our amazing natives finally found acceptance here after Europeans embraced them as exotics in their landscapes. We take many of our native plants for granted or judge them weeds because they are so common yet in other areas of the world, they are coveted. We take many of our native plants for granted.
Indigenous plants adapt flawlessly in the garden, providing they are placed in a similar environment to where they grow in the wild. The best landscaper in the world, Mother Nature, has a native plant for every condition. Up near the timberline in the mountains, the alpine plants make a brief but astonishing show. A hike through a wetland brings the discovery of our carnivorous sundews ( Drosera rotundifolia) and cobalt blue flowers of king gentian ( Gentiana sceptrum). Near the shore, ocean spray ( Holodiscus discolor), wild roses ( Rosa gymnocarpa and Rosa nutkana), salal ( Gaultheria shallon) and the red flowering currant ( Ribes sanguineum) bloom beneath madrone trees ( Arbutus menziesii). In the old growth forests, fern, moss and lichen reign in the understory of ancient native trees. Living on the Olympic Peninsula, I drive to the seashore or the Olympic Mountains to inspire many new ideas. Western bleeding hearts ( Dicentra formosa), fringe cups ( Tellima grandiflora), and piggyback plants ( Tolmiea menziesii) were a few of the native perennials I first planted at the edge of a woodland. The native plants I identified on my hikes were not the plants I grew in my wildflower garden! I began to search out and learn about both common and unique Northwest plants I wanted to grow. The realization hit me while hiking the Olympic peninsula. Even packets sold as Pacific Northwest wildflower mixes, full of annuals and a few perennials and grasses, are not native. A few years later, it struck me that many of the flowers in the wildflower packets weren't native to where I lived. By midsummer, the meadow was attractive with red and orange poppies, cornflowers, yarrow, larkspur and other lovely flowers. Following the instructions, I planted, watered and waited. I prepared a field by removing sod and raking the area smooth. I drove down to the local nursery and bought packets of wildflower seed. When I became serious about gardening, I wanted to plant a meadow of wildflowers. Potentilla fruticosa 'Mount Townsend' (shrubby cinquefoil)
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