The old orchard with its tangle of trees and wildflowers stands out as a haven for wild creatures in an Eastside neighborhood of groomed lawns, clipped shrubs and imposing homes. The sweep of native plants and carpet of colorful blossoms serve as a magnet for birds and bees, and in spring the orchard is filled with birdsong and the buzz of bees going about their procreative business. The owners, who moved from New England to Bellevue in 1956, before the 520 bridge was built and when the neighborhood was quiet and rural, became appalled at the pace of development around their three acres. Along with neighbors, they've worked with the Cascade Land Conservancy to put nine acres of adjacent land into a conservation easement, protected in perpetuity. The goal is to create wildlife habitat while making it very clear there is an alternative to all that development.

The conservation easement, and the transformation of old orchard into native plant meadow, qualified for a King County program called the Public Benefit Rating System. This program offers tax incentives to offset the fact that the property's value is substantially decreased because it can't ever be developed. This means no more buildings, limited pruning and a ban on cutting down trees unless they're unhealthy. Land is protected because homeowners aren't forced to develop their property to pay their taxes, and the resulting habitat provides food and shelter for wildlife that has been shoved out as trees are cut, driveways paved and lawns established.
 

Our native iris are low-growing (to about 18 inches) with narrow, strappy foliage. They're in their glory in May, when the intricate flowers bloom in shades from pure white through dark purple, often blotched or streaked with contrasting tones.

While much of the Bellevue property is shady with Douglas firs, the open meadow is airy and bright, with trails leading off into the surrounding woodlands. Planted four years ago, the meadow still needs quite a bit of maintenance. Until well-established, the native plants and grasses need to be watered, and the weeds kept down so the desirable plants can secure a foothold. A great benefit of the well-planned native-plant garden, however, is that as the mounds of perennials grow in more densely, they need less maintenance. The wooded area is much less labor intensive, developing just fine with only a thorough weeding three times a year so buttercups and blackberries don't smother native woodlanders.

Flora Cordis, who both designed and helped steward the garden until a recent move to Nova Scotia, phased in its development. With native-plant nurseryman Brett Johnson, Cordis began by establishing a framework of trees and shrubs while eradicating ivy and weeds. She planted a grove of sturdy Garry oaks (Quercus garryana) to grow up as the old fruit trees die out. The first year, the gardeners covered the whole area with sheets of cardboard and 6 inches of compost to kill the weeds and improve the soil. Only after they'd achieved some degree of weed control, and the trees and shrubs grew up a bit, did Cordis and Johnson begin to plant the herbaceous level of the garden that now so delights the creatures that flock to it. Every decision was made with birds, butterflies and bees in mind. When an old cedar died, it was outfitted with a chickadee nesting box and left as a snag to attract birds foraging for insects. The snag's craggy outline is now a distinct vertical line at the edge of the meadow, its bark a web of holes drilled by eager woodpeckers.
 

While not as showy as the cultivated species, the native bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) has a longer bloom season, from spring through late summer, when its vivid pink flowers are held aloft to fetchingly droop above the handsome ferny foliage.

The camas lily (Camassia quamash) was an important vegetable for coastal natives. It is also one of the showiest springtime wildflowers, blooming on grassy slopes and meadows in spikes of violet-blue flowers centered with sparkling yellow stamen.

 

	Erythronium oregonum is called the white fawn lily because of the resemblance between the patterned coat of a fawn and the chocolate mottling on its pale-green leaves.

Cordis wrote a restoration plan for the property as part of the requirements for the King County program. Diversity of species is a priority, so she planted a great variety of native plants, assuming that a certain percentage might not survive. Cordis used a liner to develop a marsh in a low corner of the meadow to create yet another kind of habitat. Here, skunk cabbage spreads lustily, its yellow repeated in the damp-loving monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus). Alongside the driveway, more conventional plantings, including native iris, mahonias, foamflower, goatsbeard and bleeding heart, form a buffer to somewhat obscure the more wild meadow. There is nothing restrained about the naturalistic meadow, planted in bold, overlapping masses of native columbine, camas (both C. quamash and the larger C. leichtlinii) penstemons, asters and goldenrod. Hummingbird glen is a favorite sheltered spot, planted with salmonberry, red-flowering currant, variegated snowberry and elderberry. Just beyond the glen is the woodland, its mossy floor blooming in springtime with trillium, erythronium and lacy bleeding heart.

The native plants have proved surprisingly adaptable, but Cordis has found some of the same problems in this garden as in ornamental gardens. The native lupines proved sufficiently aggressive for weed control, but unfortunately they squeezed out other native species. Just as in ornamental borders, the various perennials have mixed and mingled well with the grasses, in this case native sedges.

It's "restoration-inspired gardening," Cordis says of this remarkably serene orchard-turned-habitat. "We just ended up planting lots of different species, expecting Mother Nature to figure out which should survive where."
 

Deceptively delicate-looking, the native lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) has proved to be aggressive enough to outcompete most of the weeds in the sunny meadow garden.

Help Yourself

• The King County Public Benefit Rating System program provides incentives to encourage private landowners to voluntarily conserve and protect land. For information, call 206-205-5170.

• Cascade Land Conservancy is a private, nonprofit organization that works to protect wetlands, shorelines, forests, wildlife and rare-plant habitats, stream corridors and urban open spaces. Phone: 206-292-5907; Web page: www.cascadeland.org.