We sow the seeds for the native plants we grow in the fall and winter of each year; it is with much joy (and relief!) that I greet the new plants arising from them each spring. I want you to share in this joy, so see how many of the seedlings pictured below you can […]
Attracting MORE Insects with Native Plants – Part 1: Native Bees
[Winter is hanging around still; after an almost snowless and warm December and January we now have 12” on the ground in Peshastin. Nonetheless, I think of native plants. Here are some articles to get us thinking of the approaching growing season.] Signs point to spring One reason for using native plants in the landscape […]
What are these magic beans?
What native plant from Chelan County yields such large and distinctive seeds? Why, it’s our only native peony! Brown’s peony (Paeonia brownii) is one of only two peony species native to North America and the only one in Washington; all others are found in Eurasia. It was one of the most prized specimens found by the […]
The first seedlings pop up
It never ceases to thrill me; the snow begins to retreat from the seeded containers and there they are, the first seedlings of 2012! The first to appear are the species from the driest habitats, particularly the shrub-steppe: balsamroot, silky lupine, several species of buckwheats, big sagebrush. These drought-adapted species may only have their cotyledons […]