E-mail article     Print view

Enduring The Dog Days

When the going gets tough, go native and relax

PREV |  of  | NEXT

RICHIE STEFFEN word ferns (Polystichum munitum) the most common kind of fern in Western forests, are equally handsome and hardy in home gardens. RICHIE STEFFEN Evergreen huckleberries (Vaccinium ovatum) with coppery new foliage in spring and shiny black berries, are pretty enough to star as specimen plants or serve as backdrop or hedging. RICHIE STEFFEN Mahonia aquifolium makes quite a statement with jagged shiny foliage on 5- to 10-foot stems topped with yellow flowers. No wonder it’s the state flower of Oregon.

WE'RE SMACK into the dog days of summer, and gardens are flagging from weeks of drought. No doubt it's partly our fault because we tend to grow inattentive in late summer when our gardens have been so demanding for so many months. Whether it's pinching back fuchsias once again, watering hanging baskets twice a day, or stirring from our chaises long enough to fluff up tired plants, the thrill is gone for the season. While we know full well our gardening juices will be restored with the first cool breezes and bulb catalogs of autumn, right now our plots could use a few native plants to carry us through until the weather breaks.

Native plants have evolved over centuries to suit our winter-wet, summer-dry climate. In fact, they like it. You can count on them to sail through the droughty weather without losing their good looks. While often not as flamboyant as ornamentals, native plants used en masse are surprisingly effective in the landscape, as well as rewardingly self-sufficient. Wouldn't you love to see native plants used more often in our region's parks and public landscapes? We know natives are good for the environment, but still we need to see them as part of expert design schemes so we are inspired to imitate.

Good news: The planned South Lake Union Park should rectify this lack. The schematic for the park, by San Francisco design firm Hargreaves Associates, calls for predominantly native plants in this exposed site. Plans include an enhanced lake-edge habitat as well as raised planting islands with a dense mix of natives and non-natives. The overall concept is to maximize the park's ecological relationship to the greater Seattle landscape. To this end, the designers have chosen native plants that survive sturdily with little water or fertilizer.

From vine maples to evergreen huckleberries, the proposed planting lists for the park feature a delectable range of natives. A few of the toughest, most dependable natives that will also carry your garden handsomely through summer include:

• Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) has crisply jagged leaves that seduced the British gardening public in the early 19th century. It thrives in open woodlands and clearings from California to British Columbia, which means it'll grow in most any conditions in your garden. A large evergreen shrub, it usually tops out at 5 to 8 feet; it has large, glossy leaves and showy yellow bloom in early springtime.

• Evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) will be planted along the Westlake side of the new park, along with Pacific rhododendron (R. macrophyllum), native asters, blue wild rye grass (Elymus glaucus) and tufted hair grass (Deschampsia cespitosa). Whatever the companions, evergreen huckleberry will star for its adaptable nature, pretty bronze new growth, and pale spring flowers followed by black berries that birds love. It grows 2 to 3 feet high in the sun and nearly 10 feet in the shade, and can be clipped into formal hedging if that's your style.

• I was surprised not to see any native ferns on the South Lake Union plant list, but there's still time to add a few of these beauties. The old standby sword fern (Polystichum munitum) is drought tolerant once established, and can spread into formidable clumps over the years. The curly new fronds are beguiling as they unfold, and when you think about how these ferns grow wild from California to Alaska and Montana, you realize their brawny yet adaptable natures.

For inspiration until the South Lake Union Park is completed, take a look at the revision of "Landscaping with Native Plants in the Inland Northwest," a 44-page booklet available for $6 from WSU Publications in Pullman, WA. (Ask for No. MISC0267, by calling 800-723-1763 or online at www.pubs.wsu.edu.) The Kruckeberg Botanic Garden in Shoreline, www.kruckeberg.org, offers tours and information.

The Washington Park Arboretum (2300 Arboretum Drive E., in Seattle) has recently planted more than 1,300 native plants, and most can be viewed at Native Knoll, a one-acre native-plant-restoration and demonstration site near the Graham Visitors Center. Free interpretive brochures are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at the visitors center or can be downloaded at www.arboretumfoundation.org.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.