Category Archives: Native Plants

Incense Cedar

Incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens)
Calocedrus decurrens

Incense cedar is a conifer native from central-western Oregon through most of California. It has a distinct symmetrical shape and can get up to 90 feet tall in its native habitat.

The bark is orange-brown weathering grayish, smooth at first, weathering to grayish, fissured bark that sheds in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees. The fragrant, bright-green foliage is produced in flattened sprays with scale-like leaves. The seed cones look like the open beak of a duck. They turn orange to yellow-brown when mature about 8 months after pollination.

Many birds depend on insects that live on incense cedar, including woodpeckers, brown creepers, red-breasted nuthatches, and golden-crowned kinglets. Birds use the dense foliage for nesting in the summer and shelter in the winter. This tree is also the preferred host of a wood wasp, Syntexis libocedrii, a living fossil species which lays its eggs in the smoldering wood immediately after a forest fire.

Cultivation and Uses

The wood is the primary material for wooden pencils, because it is soft and tends to sharpen easily without forming splinters. It is also a popular ornamental tree, valued for its drought tolerance. In cool summer climates (such as in Washington, British Columbia, etc.), incense cedar tends to grow narrower than in the wild, making it a good choice for large hedges and screens.

  • Light Requirements: Full Sun
  • Water Requirements: Dry
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Slow
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 100-150ft
  • Mature Width:30ft

Evergreen Huckleberry

Evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)
Vaccinium ovatum

Evergreen Huckleberry is a small to medium sized evergreen shrub native to the Pacific Northwest regions of the United States and British Columbia. In the Willamette Valley, it prefers full to partial shade, but will tolerate full sun in coastal areas. It grows slowly and prefers acidic soils.

The shiny, alternately arranged leaves are 2-3.0cm long and 1-1.5cm wide with finely serrated edges. In mid-summer, the plant produces round, edible black berries about 0.5 ā€“ 1.0cm in diameter. The berries are a valuable traditional food for many Native American cultures in the Pacific Northwest.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade, Full Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Slow
  • Spreads: Yes
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Hummingbirds, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible: Yes
  • Mature Height: 4-8ft
  • Mature Width:3-6ft

Slough Sedge

Slough sedge (Carex obnupta)
Carex Obnupta

Slough sedge is native to western North America from British Columbia to California where it grows in wetland habitats. The plant produces upright, angled stems approaching 1.2 meters in maximum height, growing in beds or colonies from rhizome networks. The inflorescence is a cluster of flower spikes accompanied by a long leaflike bract.

Wildlife

The lens-shaped seeds are eaten by many kinds of wildlife. Birds known to eat sedge seeds include coots, ducks, marsh birds, shorebirds, upland game birds, and songbirds. In addition to providing food for many wildlife species, sedges are also valuable for cover. Frequently they provide nesting cover for ducks, and their tufted growth furnishes concealment and bedding for other animals. Beavers, otters, muskrats and minks make their way through the sedges as they go to and from the water.

Ethnobotanic

The leaves of slough sedge are used for both wrapping and twining in the grass baskets that are well known and widely marketed by Nitinaht and Nootka women even today.

The Nitinaht believed that picking grasses such as slough sedge for baskets and mats causes fog. The fisherman were always getting annoyed with the women who harvested these materials, because they were always making it foggy. It is said that Hesaquiat men shaved with this grass because the edges are so sharp. There is a saying in Hesaquiat which translates as “you’re just like citapt (slough sedge)” – you never change, because slough sedge is always the same and never seems to change in appearance.

Erosion Control

Slough sedge provides erosion control and streambank stabilization. The dense swards of slough sedge provide sediment retention and nutrient uptake, thus contributing to water quality improvement. Emergent wetland plant communities dominated by slough sedge provide the following hydrologic functions: maintaining river or stream meander patterns; providing a broad, shallow plain where streams slow and sediment deposition occurs; stormwater abatement; a mixing zone where brackish and freshwaters meet; and nutrient-rich habitat for aquatic organisms, fish, waterfowl, and predators such as otter, bald eagles, herons, and raccoons to feed.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part sun
  • Water Requirements: Perennially Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads:
  • Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 2ft
  • Mature Width:1ft

Blue-eyed Grass

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
Sisyrinchium idahoense

This plant is not a true grass but has a grass-like appearance as it is low-growing with long, thin leaves. They often grow on grasslands and resemble iris, a close relative. The flower is a deep bluish-purple to blue-violet and rarely white. The fruit is a dry dark or pale-brown capsule with one to several seeds in a locule. It blooms from March to May and is quite variable.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Fast
  • Spreads: Yes
  • Wildlife Support: Pest-eating Insects
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible:
  • Mature Height: 8-12in
  • Mature Width:6-12in

Larkspur

Larkspur (Delphinium trollifolium)
Delphinium trollifolium

This wildflower reaches one half to just over one meter in height. It has large, shiny, deeply lobed leaves. The top half of the stem is an inflorescence of widely spaced flowers on long pedicels, the longest over nine centimeters long. The flowers are usually deep brilliant blue. The upper two petals may be milky white. The spur exceeds two centimeters in length in the largest of the flowers. This plant is toxic.

  • Light Requirements: Part Shade, Full Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads:
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Hummingbirds
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 4ft
  • Mature Width:2ft

Wild Ginger

Wild ginger (Asarum caudatum)
Asarum caudatum

Groundcover with unique maroon flowers hidden under heart-shaped glossy leaves in spring; it has edible roots.


  • Light Requirements: Part Shade, Full Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Moderate, Difficult
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads: Yes
  • Wildlife Support: Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: Yes
  • Mature Height: 6in
  • Mature Width:3ft

Pacific Crabapple

Pacific crabapple (Malus fusca)
Malus fusca

Pacific crabapple (Malus fusca) is found in Western Oregon and north through Washington State into Canada and Alaska. It prefers moist woods and is often found at the edges of wetlands. It’s the perfect tree for a wet corner of the garden.

In spring, crabapples bloom with fragrant clusters of pinkish-white blossoms. By mid-summer, 3/4″ long fruits appear. The crabapples turn yellow to reddish in the fall, and often hang on the tree all winter, providing both visual interest and food for wildlife. The leaves of this showy tree also turn orange and bright red in autumn, binging lovely fall color to any garden.

The flowers attract large numbers of native bees including mason bees and bumblebees, and butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves. The fruits are a favorite of birds and small mammals, and the dense foliage provides both food and cover for wildlife.

Pacific crabapple grows best in full sun and moist to wet soils. Plant it with other wet-loving natives such as serviceberry, red osier dogwood, and Pacific ninebark for year-round color and wildlife habitat!

  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Moderate
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Hummingbirds, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible: Yes
  • Mature Height: 30ft
  • Mature Width:25ft

Pacific Ninebark

Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)
Physocarpus capitatus

Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) is a dense deciduous shrub growing up to 12 feet tall. The name refers to the unusual bark, which naturally peels off in many colorful layers.

The shrub has maple-like lobed leaves and attractive clusters of small white flowers in May and June. The unique fruit is a glossy red pod which turns dry and brown, and then splits open to release seeds.

The twigs, berries, buds, and leaves are all browsed by wildlife. Pacific ninebark is very important for pollinators, especially solitary bees who lay their eggs and take shelter for the winter in the hollow stems. Pacific ninebark is also a food source for the young of spring azure butterflies, and many birds use it for nesting.

It is often found in wetlands, but also forms thickets along rivers and in moist forest habitats. It can also tolerate some drought. Create a dense deciduous screen by growing it in combination with oceanspray and Douglas spirea. Best in full sun to part shade.


  • Light Requirements: Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Fast
  • Spreads: Yes
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 8-12ft
  • Mature Width:4-7ft
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