NWF lists this as one of the top 10 plants for habitat gardening. Hummingbirds, Butterfly adult, Butterfly larvae, Ants. Kruckeberg recommends mixing with Salal, rhodies, pachystima. Notes: Spreads by rhizomes, nice habit, not pushy. Inside Out Flower or Duckfoot, Vancouver hexandra Difficult to salvage, has been over salvaged, take only when colony is doomed and with permission. Flowers are white, fade to pink, darkening as they fade. Easy to grow but slow from seed (can take 2 years to germinate), 7 years to flower. Notes: Most widespread of our 4 native species. Can seed around, off sets easy to transplant, easy to naturalize. Legend is that this is eaten by woodland elves to improve night vision. Notes: Name “fringe cup” describes the flower in which the petals, highly divided, create a fringe around the floral cup. Another whose foliage is used in the florist trade. Generally stays at 3’ or under in the valley, taller on the coast. Can form dense thickets can be difficult to remove. Most prevalent understory shrub in the region. Birds eat berries, Hummingbirds, Butterfly adult, Butterfly larvae.
Salal, Gaultheria shallonĮvergreen shrub. Good soil-binding characteristics, good for erosion control. Fruit is quite mushy but some clones are tastier than others. Notes: Sparsely thorned, thicket forming bramble – good to compete (with help) against Himalayan blackberry.
Full sun/full shade, Tolerates seasonal wet. White flowers appear after many other natives are done flowering. Thicket forming bramble – good to compete (with help) against Himalayan blackberry. Notes: Large felty leaves – Woodsmen’s TP. Foliage used in florist trade – overharvested. Important food source in late summer/early fall for wildlife. Berries better with more sun, which get supposedly sweeter after frost. Fairly compact in sunny areas, more upright, taller with more shade. New spring growth is lovely burgundy/bronzy color. Notes: Will take formal pruning – good substitute for boxwood (toxic). Birds eat fruit, Hummingbirds, Butterfly adult, Butterfly larvae, bees. Evergreen Huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatumĮvergreen shrub. Can look “dead” for up to 2 years so don’t give up hope and pull it. Supposedly transplant success high but that’s not my experience. Notes: Plant with rotting wood, decaying organic matter. David Douglas brought this plant to European horticulturists. Fruit eaten by mammals (deer, foxes, beavers, raccoons, squirrels, etc), twig/foliage browsed by deer. Almost always eaten by summer’s end by birds. Powdery blue/black berries ripen from June to August, are edible but “insipid” according to P&M. Generally upright but can develop interesting form, esp. Many named forms available, some garden origin, some naturally found varieties. Notes: Alternate host for White Pine Blister Rust.
Leaves have strong cucumber smell when crushed. First to fruit (June), eaten quickly by birds, quite palatable fruit. Beauty is in the nostrils of the sniffer. First to flower (Feb) and leaf out in spring, flower scent described as Hawthorne-like, almond-scented or a cross between melon rinds and cat urine. Need male and female plants for fruit to develop (female fruits). Indian Plum/Oso Berry, Oemleria cerasiformis Shade-grown plants do not transplant well to sun conditions. Only plants nursery grown in sun should be planted in sun conditions. Birds (8) eat seeds branches are good for nesting sites. Many of these plants will grow in mixed deciduous forest conditions as well. For instance, in places where the soil is well drained and the slope is south-facing, or in open canopy sunny conditions, you will find plants more tolerant of dry conditions. A number of species are common throughout the moist to dry range with a few species found at one end of the gradient or the other. Groundcovers will vary depending on amount of sunlight and moisture. The most common plant community in the Pacific Northwest is dominated by large conifers, with a wide range of trees, shrubs and groundcovers as understory plants. Local, regional and community food systems.Commercial fishing, crabbing and clamming.