Ethically propagated native plants of the Pacific Northwest & Columbia River Gorge
Nursery News & Events
Plant sales, educational events, volunteer opportunities and more.....
We will feature select news & events related to native plants, native pollinators, conservation, and restoration on a seasonal basis here, so keep checking in or follow us on Facebook to stay updated.
Featured news & events:
Its here!!
The Pacific Northwest Native Plant Primer
We are excited to announce the release of our new book with publisher Timber Press, The Pacific Northwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, which hit the shelves February 28, 2023! We feel this will be a great resource for regional gardeners, particularly in Oregon and Washington. It contains useful information for both beginning and seasoned native plant lovers and covers more than 225 species as we make suggestions of alternate species for different habitats and ecoregions in many of the plant profiles.
Available wherever books are sold. We also have copies for sale in the nursery, so make an appointment to visit us and go home with a book and some plants recommended for you by the authors!
**Saturday, April 29th, 2-4pm - Book signing at Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River!**
You can now find our plants at Dirt Hugger!
We are excited to be partnering with Dirt Hugger to provide you with locally adapted and ethically propagated native plant starts for your garden and landscape! You can now find a selection of our plants at their landscape supply yard in The Dalles, OR.
We have proudly been using Dirt Hugger soil mixes to grow all of our plants since the early beginnings of our nursery. We appreciate the great team of people that work hard to make this locally and environmentally minded business a success and think they are a great asset to the community. We encourage you to use their products if you don't already, and look for our plants when you visit their landscape supply yard!
Dirt Hugger Landscape Supply (749 Snipes St.) Open Monday-Saturday
APRIL IS NATIVE PLANT APPRECIATION MONTH!
This is a great time to learn more about native plants and show your love for them!
Over the course of the month in Oregon and Washington, native plant societies and various organizations sponsor and host a number of events related to native plants. There will be plant sales, lectures, workshops, plantings, and native plant conservation efforts galore to participate in and learn from. Find out what is happening in your state and area, and get out there and appreciate our amazing native flora!
Wasco County Master Gardeners' Spring Plant Fair
Saturday, May 13th, 9-2pm, The Dalles City Park
Look for our booth full of native plants at this great local annual event at City Park (5th & Union) in The Dalles, OR. Help support the Master Gardeners program and community plant education.
White Salmon Wildflower Festival
Wildflower Summit, Friday, May 26th. 5-9pm.
We will be speaking at the "Wildflower Summit" as part of the White Salmon Wildlflower Festival, which takes place over the month of May. Go to this link for more information about this month-long event celebrating the incredible wildflowers of the Columbia River Gorge...
Wild About Nature lecture series
Fridays, April 7th - May 5th.
Taking place at the White Salmon Library and the Mountain View Grange in White Salmon, WA, this springtime lecture series returns with another round of interesting topics and speakers.
Click here for the full poster and event information: WILDABOUTNATURE
More spring events TBD....stay tuned!
We have more spring events in the works so stay tuned to this website or our facebook page for updates and announcements!
Create nesting habitat for bees and beneficial insects.
When doing any cleanup in the garden, keep in mind that many of our native bees (which also happen to be solitary and stingless) spend the winter underground, in cavities in trees, or the pithy stems of plants. There are many ways to promote, protect, and provide for these vital insect allies, including specific ways of pruning and maintaining your landscape. The Xerces Society provides some great information and online publications which can educate gardeners on how to truly maintain a year-round pollinator-friendly garden.
Learn more about providing nesting resources for pollinators here:
OregonFlora website is a great resource for native plant lovers and gardeners.
OregonFlora has a new, user-friendly website with information on over 4,700 plants that grow in Oregon. This is a great resource for anyone interested in Oregon's native flora and provides identification tools, as well as information on gardening with native plants. It even has a news and events page with interesting articles and links to webinars. In addition to this, the second volume of the Flora of Oregon is now in print! This is the second part of a three part, comprehensive, illustrated guide to the flora of the state. The third volume is expected to be available in 2023. Each volume contains front chapters on a range of topics, including gardening with native plants.
Take a tour of the new website at: oregonflora.org
Order Vol 1 and 2 of the Flora of Oregon or purchase the Oregon Wildflowers app here: oregonflora.org/pages/store.php
Book features Sheila Ford Richmond's home and neighborhood gardens in Hood River
Under Western Skies is a beautifully photographed and written book by Caitlin Atkinson and Jennifer Jewell that showcases innovative gardens in the American West where nature is the inspiration. It features the hard work of Sheila Ford Richmond and our very own An"Drew".
Wildflower hikes, classes and events with NPSO & WNPS
The Native Plant Society of Oregon and the Washington Native Plant Society are always planning and organizing great hikes and events to see and learn about the flora of the PNW. Join them!
Native Plant Society of Oregon npsoregon.org
Washington Native Plant Society wnps.org
The Columbia Gorge is well known for its beautiful wildflowers...
We encourage everyone to take a few steps to help protect the beautiful native wildflowers of the Gorge while out hiking....
*Clean weed seeds from footwear before hitting the trail and use boot brushes at trail heads to help stop the spread of invasive plants that could harm native plant populations.
*Stay on the trail and please don't pick native wildflowers! What looks like a common flower may actually be a rare subspecies or an endemic species and picking them could do more harm to the population than you may think.
*Do not post locations of rare plants on social media.
Columbia Insight
Independent environmental news for communities throughout the Columbia River Basin.
Current news and podcasts on a range of topics related to life in the Columbia River Basin. Read & listen up!
Check back seasonally for updates. We will also post updates & links to these events and more on our Facebook page.