Plant Native Things and Watch them Flourish

As we near our Native Planting 101 workshop and the deadline for placing an order for the Native Plant Sale I felt it was good time to write a blog looking at native plants. Planting native can save you a lot of things. Time, effort, and money are probably the three biggest. I’ll take a look at a few different tasks involved in gardening and then explain how natives save you time, effort, and/or money for each task.

Watering is probably the most important chore when it comes to gardening. If you hand water this can be a long and tedious chore requiring you to daily visit each plant in the middle of a scorching summer. Natives require minimal watering on your part. Once established, native plants should survive primarily on water available on site without extra from you. (Of course this assumes you get the right plant for the right area. A native plant normally found next to a creek may not thrive on an exposed slope.) They’ve survived in this climate for hundreds of years without human intervention, so why would they need you to water them now? The first year or two they might need watering to establish a solid root system, but after that they’re good to go. Of course, if you have a sprinkler system you probably won’t notice a drop in your time or effort. However, in both cases you’ll save money using natives. No longer will you have to spend money to water plants. Natives don’t need your water.

Fertilizer is another big item. Natives don’t need fertilizer to flourish. They’ve grown in these conditions before, whether that’s a sandy slope with minimal nutrients, or the side of a creek with an overabundance of water. Find the plant native to those conditions and you won’t need to fertilize it. This will save you time, effort, and especially money. Fertilizer is not cheap, and it’s a task that often requires applications over and over again, year after year. Natives don’t need it.

Pruning or thinning in your garden can take up a large amount of time. Natives can cut down on the time and effort. Natives don't need constant pruning and thinning to grow healthily. They grow well if just left alone. Whereas introduced species may require pruning or thinning to maintain the health of the plant. Native plants will survive just fine if left alone.

Cascadia is still taking orders for its Native Plant Sale. We have availability on all 12 plant species, but some are selling faster than others. To make sure that you don’t miss out on any of the plants you’ve been mulling over buying make sure to order yours today! Visit our website for a brochure outlining some of the highlights of all 12 plants, or read the 3 blog posts that cover each of the 12 plants in a little more detail. First. Second. Third. Our deadline for ordering plants is set for February 14, so three weeks is all the time that’s left to order bushels of plants perfect for your landscaping or restoration needs.

Cascadia is also sponsoring a Native Planting 101 workshop on Saturday, February 8. We encourage anyone that wants to use native plants in their yard, or that’s just generally interested in native plants to attend. Our speakers will cover topics including restoration, yardscaping, pollinators, and weeds. All four of our presenters have presented at previous Native Planting 101 workshops and have plenty of useful and interesting information to share with you! Visit our website for more information and to RSVP.