PNW Natives

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!