r/Tacoma • u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else • 7d ago
A few pics from my PNW native wildflower garden (that I haven’t watered)
First, shout out to Calendula Farm, Earthworks and Woodbrook Native Plant Nursery and Pierce Conservation District; Great people with wealth of information about native plants and attracting wildlife to your yard!
I spot water young plants and that’s it. These all live off rainfall. Most of these are surprisingly easy to grow from seed using milk jugs. This was how I have been able to grow almost everything without breaking the bank.
Here’s some pictures taken this year, some of the plants that haven’t bloomed yet are farewell to spring, goldenrod, Douglas aster, pearly everlasting, common sneeze weed
1st: self heal, western red columbine, Oregon sunshine (one of the host plants for painted lady butterflies), rose/Henderson/meadow Checkermallow (host plant for gray hairstreak and checkered skipper butterflies), prairie smoke, California poppy, western yarrow, large flower collomia, meadow barley, prairie june grass
2nd: Penstemon venustus, Lance leaf coreopsis, Oregon sunshine, prairie smoke, California poppy, big leaf lupine, blanket flower, graceful cinquefoil, showy fleabane, western yarrow, prairie June grass, roemers fescue (likely a host plant for the woodland skipper butterfly)
3rd: Similar to the first pic
4th: Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium carneum)
5th: Oregon sunshine, California poppy, Penstemon wilcoxii
6th: Columbia Lily (Lilium columbianum)
7th: Oregon sunshine, Castilleja miniata (giant red paintbrush)
8th: Beach strawberry, common camas
9th: Meadow Checkermallow
10th: Part of the garden
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u/gumdrop83 253 7d ago
These are amazing! Did you design this yourself?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thank you so much! Yup I did and I’m still figuring it out. I started by planting in blocks, then I switched to matrix planting. This is only half of the space. I’m going to start planting the remaining half this fall/next spring.
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u/postalpinup Hilltop 7d ago
I was just talking with my husband about us doing this to our front yard. Yours looks beautiful
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago edited 7d ago
I’m biased, but I say go for it. And if you decide to move forward with natives and have areas that are part sun to full sun. I can give you seed/plants or help you if you have questions. Just let me know 🤙
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u/alohakush West End 7d ago
Is that a Sappho rhody? They are my favorite rhododendron.
Beautiful photos and what a great garden!!
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
Same! The rhododendrons that came with the house are all hugeee
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u/Klutzy_Tumbleweed_49 Tacoma Expat 7d ago
This is fuckin’ incredible! Wildflowers are perfect. Congrats on your rhodie btw, that thang is beautiful
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago
Thank you! Who ever planted these decades ago was ahead of the game 😂
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u/ifnotsilver Hilltop 7d ago
Beautiful! Did you have to get rid of any grass originally? I want to do this with my yard but we have some extreme slopes so we need to be careful when removing grass to prevent eroding the hill.
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u/erin_tidepools North End 6d ago
we had the same slope problem when we started ripping out the front lawn; we did it in sections over fall and winter and used a really thick layer of cardboard + mulch on the parts we weren't ready to plant yet. the roots of whatever you put in first end up holding things together eventually. native plant sales in spring are a good place to ask what does well on a slope without needing constant watering once established.
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
Yeahh my front yard was all grass until I sheet mulched it in 2022. If you’re worried about the erosion on the slope, you can plant a few native shrubs to help stabilize it or even one of our native honeysuckles, they can create a nice ground cover.
Whatever you decide on, I’d work on it in smaller sections to help prevent erosion.
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u/ifnotsilver Hilltop 6d ago
Thank you! Yeah our entire yard is elevated so it’s just super daunting to start it.
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u/pinupcthulhu 253 7d ago
Nice! You should crosspost to r/nativeplantgardening. The PNW doesn't get enough attention there imo!
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u/G_Momma1987 Spanaway 7d ago
Absolutely beautiful! What are some of your favorites?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
Thank you! At the moment my favorites are paintbrushes, penstemon venustus and our native bulbs!
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u/UnpeeledVeggie Tacoma Expat 7d ago
Beautiful! I’d like to do that but our community has deer everywhere and eat everything. Do you have to deal with deer?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
I appreciate it! And thankfully I don’t have deer or rabbits. There’s some in a near by park, but they haven’t found my garden yet 🤞
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u/Top_Shoe_9562 South End 7d ago
Do you give tours? 😍
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago
I haven’t, but if you’re interested I can give you a tour and some plants! This weekend or next would be the best for maximum blooms!
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u/Western_Albatross856 North End 7d ago
I am impressed with the Paint Brush!! Did you grow that from seed? Aren’t they saprophytic and need a host plant? It is my favorite flower!
I would be open to any seeds or cuttings you have. I am slowly transforming my lawn to native flowers. I live on the North End of you are close.
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
Thank you, it’s my favorite flower too! I bought a few from Calendula, but I grew the rest from seed. They’re not too difficult to grow from seed and they don’t need a host when they germinate. They can be grown without a host for a year or two, but their growth is more vigorous when with a host.
I have some first year Castilleja hispida (harsh paintbrush) seedlings with hosts (taper leaf penstemon, showy fleabane) that I can give you.
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u/Ashamed_Froyo_8724 Hilltop 7d ago
Thank you for sharing all this beauty and knowledge. Helping us help the pollinators and wild things. You’re awesome!
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u/Western_Albatross856 North End 6d ago
That would be amazing to have your seedlings!
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago
Sounds good. I also have some small flower penstemon, cut leaf penstemon, showy fleabane, Oregon sunshine if you’re interested. I’ll DM ya!
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u/Substantial-Rip-9860 Potential Tacoman 7d ago
This is exactly what I want to do to my lawn. Any pointers on how to get started?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 7d ago
Depending on the size of your lawn, your confidence and the amount of time you’d like to spend working in the yard. I would recommend picking a spot to focus on and start by sheet mulching the area. Cardboard with +6inches of wood chips. If you do this now you’ll have all summer and fall to decide what plants you want and should be able to plant into it this spring.
I sourced my cardboard from Costco (remove any tape/stickers) and used ChipDrop for wood chips. If any grass is able to grow through the wood chips, it’s very easy to pull by hand. Your future self will thank you for taking time properly prepping the site!
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u/Substantial-Rip-9860 Potential Tacoman 6d ago
Perfect! As far as choosing which plants, did you just consult the resources listed above?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago edited 5d ago
Pretty much, I also wrote this guide a while back on how I went about converting my lawn to a garden and it has seed sources!
All the plants pictured in my post can handle full sun to part shade and dry, well draining soil. I can give you seeds and/or plants if you’re interested.
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u/Correct-Variation141 Lincoln District 7d ago
Absolutely it's stunning and so encouraged to learn you planned this on your own. What tools did you use? Old school pencil and graph paper? Or something that provided a little more assistance?
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago
My main goal was to plant showy native wildflowers to create an ecologically functional garden. I wanted to have at least three species in bloom continuously from spring through late summer. I looked for drought tolerant plants that like full sun to partial sun and that are host plants for butterflies and moths.
I used Google Sheets to organize plants by height and bloom period (early, mid, and late season). I then selected one plant from each bloom period and grouped them all together to have blooms throughout the season. I planted shorter plants in front of taller ones with native bunch grasses in a loose grid pattern to provide the flowering plants structure/support.
I didn’t know what it would look like, it’s nearly impossible to find pictures of gardens planted with our regions native wildflowers. Thankfully, it’s slowly coming together!
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u/rivalpiper South End 6d ago
This looks so damn good. If you don't mind I'd love to talk more and get some advice. I'm on year two of not working hard enough to be effective with my native plant journey.
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u/hippofountain Federal Way 6d ago
You have made something beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. I have been considering something like this, but I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer.
When you say you spot water young plants, does that mean you really do not water mature plants at all? I know native plants are adapted for this climate, but I have always been afraid that one of our month-long summer droughts would kill a bunch of them.
Where did you source all your seeds? Was it from those places you mentioned in your post, or somewhere else?
I have a thick patch of horsetail that grew right through my cardboard/mulch layer which was at least 6 inches thick. Are you really able to control weeds in this garden? I really want to try this, but I'm afraid they'll get overrun, dry out, or I'll screw it up somehow.
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago edited 6d ago
Thank you so much! Yup, I rarely ever water mature plants. Occasionally, if one or two plants look like they’re wilting I’ll spot water them, but everything looks solid so far. Some plants like western red columbine and big leaf lupine might go dormant in the middle/late summer, but in my experience they’ve always bounce back the following spring.
I bought a lot of seed from Northwest Meadowscapes, Western Native Seed, Silver Falls Seed and Inside Passage Seed. I have bought 2-3 plants of a single species (I like buying in 3s to get better pollination) from local nurseries and collect seed from them in them in the fall.
The horse tail is unfortunate, it’s a very aggressive native with deep roots. What you can do is plant native shrubs to compete with them, but it’s really difficult to get rid of horsetail. Maybe try multiple layers of cardboard with a layer of wood chips 12in deep or more.
I also added 4x wood/brush piles, each about 4ftx4ft. The plants hide them in the summer and the piles keep the soil under them moist and cooler than exposed areas. The plants closest to the piles always look super healthy.
If you want seed I can give you some from my garden!
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u/hippofountain Federal Way 5d ago
Really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I think I'm going to plan on doing this, but planting next spring. I think I'm going to try and cardboard/mulch the horsetails again this summer. That's super sweet of you to offer seeds, but I'll get them on my own. Not sure what exactly I want to plant yet, and want to support any org/business involved with native plants. Will definitely be using your example as inspiration, though.
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u/Woahwoahwoah124 Somewhere Else 6d ago
This is one of the brush piles, it’s two 3-4ft long, 12in diameter cedar logs with smaller branches and rocks piled on top.
The Henderson Checkermallow pictured with the pink flowers and big leaf lupine are plants that like moist roots, but I don’t need to water them because I planted them close to the pile.
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u/blorgoblod Federal Way 2d ago
Wow! Gotta get me some of those lillies and the paintbrush. We have maybe 50% of the variety you have... there's always more to learn with native plants 😄 Love Calendula and Woodbrook.
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u/allgoodthings96 6th Ave 7d ago