Native Plant Appreciation Week

Hello, Chickadee Garden readers! As you likely know, I am a huge supporter of native plants and love it when they have an opportunity to shine. For people in cities and rural areas alike native plants bring a lot of life and wonder to the garden and wild areas - so, if you are looking for some plant activities in the coming week, you're in luck. It's Native Plant Appreciation Week, hosted by the Portland Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon. For the next nine days, there are loads of dedicated Oregon native plant-education and awareness activities in Portland from April 23​ through May 1. Oregonians enjoy an amazing diversity of native plants; they help connect us  to this land, deeply rooted in Oregon soils since before people set foot here. 

 

 Some of this week's events include a Canemah Bluff Natural Area (pictured here) tour on Wednesday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m. The first event is this Saturday and is a self-guided tour of Lost Lagoon Farm on Sauvie Island (pair it with a trip to Cistus Nursery!), between 10 a.m. and  5 p.m. There is also a Sandy Canyon hike and a presentation on urban native plants and their pollinators. Many other wonderful activities are planned. For a complete listing of events, go here.

 For a little fun I thought it would be nice to revisit a few favorite plants. Pictured is Ribes sanguineum.

Sedum spathulifolium 

 Rosa nutkana.

Lewisia cotyledon with a sea of Sedum oreganum.

Lonicera hispidula or hairy honeysuckle.

 Mimulus aurantiacus or sticky/shrubby monkey flower.

Wonderful Sedum oregana.

Polypodium scouleri or Scouler's polypody fern. LOVE this little one.

 Sedum divergens with some Sempervivum cultivar.

Viburnum triolbum or American cranberry bush. Four seasons of interest here, a wonderful large shrub or small tree.

New growth on Vaccinium ovatum or evergreen huckleberry.

Orange honeysuckle, Lonicera ciliosa.

Armeria maritima or sea thrift.

Limnanthes douglasii or Douglas' meadowfoam.

Rhododendron occidentale, a native deciduous azalea.

Common but beautiful common fireweed.

Geranium oreganum.

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program is a wonderful resource with a very informative website.

Yes, please!

Penstemon serrulatus.

Native Plant Appreciation Week has been celebrated across Oregon for more than a decade thanks to the NPSO, which has been working tirelessly since 1961 for plant and habitat restoration. This all-volunteer run non­profit organization protects and conserves threatened and endangered plant species, carries out rare plant surveys and monitoring programs, develops guidelines and policy regarding native plant gardening, ethics, grazing, mining, and forest management, and works on plant salvage and reintroduction. These are all hot topics currently, as our climate changes and our biodiversity is threatened. The aim of NPAW is to grow the awareness and appreciation of these valuable plants and their deep-seeded role in environmental sustainability. 

I have blogged about several outstanding native plants to the Pacific Northwest in the past, you can revisit those posts from 2015 here and here and one from 2014 here. They are all wonderful plants with something of value to add to your garden. I am amazed at the biodiversity in my own gardens since introducing them several years ago. You can also revisit an in-depth post about the Backyard Habitat Certification Program here, a program that got me excited about the possibilities these plants and what they create can provide. I find a richness of garden life that is more valuable than anything material I can think of.

That's it for this week at Chickadee Gardens. I hope you have a chance to explore some of these great activities around Native Plant Appreciation Week, there are some goodies in there! As always, thank you so much for reading and until next time, happy gardening!