Great Oregon gardening app points out native plants

Question: I want to start a native plant garden in a corner of my backyard. I’ve seen “native plant” labels in nurseries, but I’ve looked these up and they aren’t native here. For example, coneflower is often labeled native. Well, it is native to the Great Plains, not here. How do I know where to buy native plants that are native to the Willamette Valley?

Answer: Good for you! Environmentally, native plants provide food and habitat for our dwindling native fauna, including local butterflies, moths and beneficial insects, including pollinators.

Once established, native plants use less water than many non-native ornamentals. Why? Plants native to the Willamette Valley evolved with our dry summers. They are “used” to summer drought. They require no fertilizers or pesticides either.

If you grow truly native plants in your yard, you help maintain the natural biological diversity of our region. Natives help connect urban and suburban habitat with surrounding natural areas.

Botanists at the Oregon Flora Project define Oregon native plants as “those which occur or historically occurred naturally in our state and established in the landscape independently of direct or indirect human intervention.”

Think about planting for pollinators

The Oregon Flora Project has just posted an online guide of where to buy native plants in Oregon at oregonflora.org/gardening.php. The guide is a giant table that can be computer-sorted by nursery, by common name or by scientific name. There is info about the plant sellers as well.

If you want to learn which plants are native to the Willamette Valley, I suggest you get the Oregon Wildflowers app.

High Country Apps sells the mobile guide to Oregon’s botanical splendor. It was produced in collaboration with the Oregon Flora Project and the Botany and Plant Pathology Department of Oregon State University.

Native madrone nice, carefree tree choice

The app provides gorgeous photos, species descriptions, range maps, bloom period and technical descriptions for more than 940 common wildflowers, shrubs and vines found in Oregon and adjacent areas of Washington, Idaho and northern California. The majority of species included are native, but introduced species common to the region are covered as well. The app tells you whether or not a plant is native.

The Oregon Wildflowers app is self-contained. It does not need an internet connection to run, so you can use it no matter where you are.

I have been using this great app now for more than a year. I love it. It is available in both Android or iPhone versions for $9.99 at highcountryapps.com/OregonWildflowers.aspx.

For more on native plants, the Oregon State University Extension Service offers a publication online called "Recommended Native Plants for PNW Home Gardens." Find it at extension.oregonstate.edu/yamhill/sites/default/files/native_plant_rec_list.pdf.

MORE: This native plant sale has already past, but it has some good recommendations for native plants.

Mulching tip

Last week I asked readers to share any effective mulching methods they might want to share. Here’s a nice response.

Dear Carol: I first set up my vegetable garden with soaker hoses outlining rows to be planted.  I put down large sheets of cardboard between the rows, allowing a few inches on each side for emerging plants.  When the plants emerge and are a few inches tall, I snug smaller cardboard pieces alongside and in between plants.  This conserves water and inhibits weeds.  We used to put seedless straw on top of this and rototill all that in the following spring.  Currently I am holding the cardboard down with old boards and removing it in the fall, as it tends to fragment and blow around. This seasonal “mulch,” along with a watering timer, makes the garden almost care-free once set up and provides a clean surface to kneel on when harvesting low-growing vegetables.”