Residents looking to give their garden a more pacific northwest look have an opportunity this weekend to gather native plants from the former WSU Demonstration Forest during Saturday’s native plant salvage.
Led by the Native Plant Salvage Alliance, the events are designed to give gardeners the opportunity to transplant native plants to their yard in advance of an area being developed.
Adding native plants can help preserve habitats and require less work by gardeners because they evolved to live in the climates and environment instead of having to be cared for.
According to the Native PLant Salvage Alliance website, the registered participants may salvage the following trees and shrubs from the area: big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), vine maple (Acer circinatum), red alder (Alnus rubra), cascara (Rhamnus purshiana), poplars (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa), Doug fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata), willows (Salix spp.), ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor), osoberry/Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis), sword ferns (Polystichum munitum), bracken ferns (Pteridium aquilinum), wild roses (Rosa spp.), black-cap raspberries and salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis), hardhack spirea (Spiraea douglasii), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and shade-loving mosses. If you’re feeling lucky, you can also dig for salal (Gaultheria shallon), red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium), evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), and grape hollies (Berberis/Mahonia spp.).
It’s also possible to find special forest perennials including Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla), Deer Ferns (Blechnum spicant), Fairy Bells (Disporum spp.), Roemer’s fescue (Festuca roemeri), vining Honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.), Solomon’s Seal (Mianthemum spp.), Licorice Ferns (Polypodium glycyrrhiza), Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), Piggy-back Plants (Tolmeia menziesii), Trillium (Trillium ovatum), Nettles (Urtica Dioica), Violets (Viola spp.), mosses and other specialty natives.
For more information or to register for the event, visit www.ssstewardship.org or e-mail Anna.Thurston@ssstewardship.org. Saturday’s event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and volunteers will meet behind Safeway.
