Gardening with Native Plants

Yesterday and Today

Linda R McMahanOSU Extension, Yamhill County

Ask yourself: Why do we garden the way we do?

A Pacific Northwest public garden

Where did our gardening traditions come from?

In case you had any doubts!

Our gardening traditions in North America come primarily from England

The British gardening traditions are reflected almost everywhere we look

We copy what we remember and seeWhat gardens do you remember from our

childhood?What are your neighbors doing?Are you inspired by our friends’ gardens?What do public gardens, parks, and other

designed landscapes look like?

But now. . . We are beginning to relate to gardening in an American style

Native plant garden display at a Portland garden show

London’s Crystal palace and bedding plants. Photo: Wikipedia

Plant explorers brought plants to Europe, leading

to the Victorian Era (1837-1901-reign of Queen Victoria). Tropical plants were were grown in glass houses or used as “bedding plants” in a formal gardening style requiring high resource use.

Photo: Neil Bell

First, a view from yesteryear

Enter William Robinson, a Scottish gardener who reacted to Victorian “excess” by promoting “Wild Gardening”

Robinson’s house and garden: Wikipedia

Wild gardening defined

“Wild Gardening” says William Robinson, is not native plant gardening. Instead, it is “placing perfectly hardy plants in places they will take care of themselves. It has nothing to do with wilderness.” From English Flower Garden

A Robinson design- Wikipedia

Gertrude Jekyll and the emergence of the border garden

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), the founder of the modern border garden, was a colleague of William Robinson. She popularized the idea of the informal border in many publications and garden designs.

Very Early America Beginning in the 1700’s,

growing fruit trees became very important. This interest followed settlers across the continent to the American west. Apples for food and cider, plums, and pears were particularly popular.

Winslow Homer painting of grafting of fruit trees in 1870, Photo: Wikipedia

William Bartram With his father John,

William studied and promoted certain native plants, including Franklinia alatamaha. The Bartram’s were prominent exporters of native plants for European markets.

Photos: Wikipedia

(1739-1823)

Gradually, people began to incorporate native plants into their gardens First, native trees were substituted for European ones, then shrubs. Notable was the use of plants of Southeastern US origin such as magnolias and azaleas. Other early plants noted in the literature are native lilies, ferns, and western conifers.

Magnolia virginiana, Photo: Wikipedia

Thomas Jefferson Experimented widely

with southeast native plants, including osage orange as a hedge

Sponsored Lewis and Clark Expedition

Photos: Wikipedia

(1743-1826)

Collected Ribes sanguineum which was, according to Penelope Hobhouse, “so important a find as to be itself worth the cost of the whole expedition”

David Douglas Visited the Pacific Northwest on behalf of the

British Horticultural Society to look for new plants for European gardens.

(1799-1834) Photo: Wikipedia

Liberty Hyde Bailey“Father of American

Horticulture”Michigan Agricultural

College, then Cornell University

Creator of the first US horticultural dictionaries

Botanist, plantsman, nature promoter

Began tradition of nature study in NY schools, which were probably forerunners of native plant societies

Photo: Wikipedia

(1858-1954)

For many years, we have continued to follow European tradition—we merely planted native plants in place of standard plants in the European style. This is still reflected in most gardens incorporating native plants.

A magnolia and Ribes sanguineum

Oregon State University campus

But today, public places are becoming more reflective of nature

Now our own gardens more often reflect nature as well

Natural plant forms such as that of goldenrod

Native wildlife including the banana slug

Many of us are inspired by nature – we copy what we see

Lomatium (desert parsley) on an outcrop at Catherine Creek Preserve in the Columbia River Gorge

Even when using native plants, we give ourselves permission to be whimsical

Pots feature native Sedum

We more often focus on the natural form of plants, and pair them with natural materials

The Berry Botanic Garden, Portland, OR

Some gardens such as this one at the McMinnville OR public library, feature only native plants

We add native ground-covers to our gardens

Vancouveria hexandra, inside-out flower

We sometimes use plants considered to be weeds for their garden or wildlife valueCow parsnip, Heracleum lanatum,

featured in a butterfly garden at The Berry Botanic Garden, Portland, OR

Engineering Building, Oregon State University, featuring kinnickinnick, vine maple, and deer fern

To get conservation certification, many new buildings use native plants in the landscape

So what is a native plant?

Is this one?

California fuchsia, Epilobium canum

Vine maple, Acer circinatum

What is a native plant?

• Native to Planet Earth?• Native to the exact

site?• Native before the

arrival of European explorers?

• Found naturally in Oregon?

• Is a foreign but naturalized plant OK?

• What about cultivars?

What is a native plant?

This is partially a question you will have to ask yourself; others will have many opinions

My personal definition goes something like: “native to the Pacific Northwest before the arrival of European explorers, including cultivars”

Douglas iris, Iris douglasiana; variegated form of Fragaria vesca; California fuschia, Epilobium californicum

Does gardening with native mean that is all you can grow?

In the late 20th century and even today, twin styles of gardening with natives continue to evolve side by side

Substituting natives for more traditional plants and the development of “garden-worthy” cultivars

Gardening with native plants for their own sake in naturalistic landscapes

VS

Photos: left azalea and sword fern (Polystichum munitum); right coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus)

Practical gardening with natives

Reflect your personal stylePick plants that work for youPick plants that excel in your areaLook at their value for aesthetics, color,

form, wildlife support, edible landscapingAvoid exotic invasive plants or those that

might be a problem in your own garden

Some examples of approaches

A formal approach of Lisa Albert, a native plant gardener and lecturer in the Portland area

Selected plants featured: wild bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa); western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale)

Some examples of approaches

A B&B in the Cascades using local native plants

Selected plants pictured: wood sorrel (Oxalis oregana); sword fern (Polystichum munitum)

Some examples of approaches

City of Corvallis waterfront park—tough plants and easy maintenance

Selected plants: Oregon iris (Iris tenax) and blue fescue

Plants to consider: woodland classicsEvergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis), vine maple (Acer circinatum), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), wild rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), wild bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)

Plants to consider: groundcovers

Kinnickinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), spoon leaf sedum (Sedum spathulifolium), false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilitatum), wood sorrel (Oxalis oregana var. smallii), waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum)

Plants to consider: more groundcoversSword fern (Poloystichum munitum), stream violet (Viola glabella); long-leaf Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa), inside-out-flower (Vancouveria hexandra)

Plants to consider: streamside gardenNinebark (Physocarpus capitatus), Corydalis (Corydalis scouleri), umbrella plant (Peltophyllum peltatum), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus)

Plants to consider – more streamsideSkunk cabbage (Lysichitum americanum), red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and twinberry (Lonicera involucrata)

Plants to consider: shrubs for a sunny borderGolden currant (Ribes aureum), mytle (Myrica californica), western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale), ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor), western rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum), silk tassel (Garrya elliptica)

Plants to consider: sunny borderWestern goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), camas (Camassia sp.), western columbine (Aquilegia formosa), fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium), balsam root (Balsomorhiza sagittata), globe gilia (Gilia capitata)

Plants to consider: more sunny borderChecker mallow (Sidalcea campestris), coast penstemon (Penstemon serrulatus), Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), scarlet monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis), Oregon iris (Iris tenax)

Plants to consider: rock gardenSedums (S. spathulifolium, oreganum), Lomatium sp., pussytoes (Antennaria sp.), CA fuschia (Epilobium canum), wild buckwheat (Eriogonum sp.), scarlet gilia (Gilia aggregata), Penstemon sp., sea thrift (Armeria maritima)

Plants to consider: wildlifeTall Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium),wild strawberry (Fragaria sp.), western mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii), violets (Viola adunca), snowberry (Symphoricarpus alba), red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Plants to consider: small spacesDouglas iris (Iris douglasiana), Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’, sedums

For More Information!

Kruckeberg, Arthur R. 1966. Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA

Yamhill County, OSU Extension Ecogardening at: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/yamhill/eco-gardening

Selecting native plants for home landscapes in Central Oregon at: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/19858/ec1623-e.pdf

Oregon Flora Project (interactive maps and photos) at: http://www.oregonflora.org/

Tall Oregon grape, Berberis aquifolium

Thank you!Linda R McMahanBotanist and HorticulturistOregon State University Extension Service, Yamhill Countylinda.mcmahan@oregonstate.edu

Note: This presentation may be used for educational purposes without express permission. All plant and garden photographs, except as noted, by Linda R McMahan at Oregon State University. Please contact author for all non-educational uses of photographs.