Tag Archives: Oregon Native Plants

Firewise Plant: Lonicera ciliosa

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Plant Name: Lonicera ciliosa

Common names:  Western Trumpet Honeysuckle, Orange Honeysuckle, Climbing Honeysuckle

Plant Type: Twining vine, twigs hollow

Plant Height: 10-30 ft

Plant Width:  10-inch +

Bloom Time: Late Spring

Flower Color:  Orange/Red

Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade

Soil Requirements: Organically Rich, Well-Drained, Moist Soil.

Water Needs: Moderate

Fire Resistant:  YES; Zone 1 – Plant 30’+ From Structure.

Attributes: Not Fragrant; Pollinated by the Rufous Hummingbird, Attracts Hummingbirds; Orange-Red Berries Attractive to Wildlife. Native range: British Columbia South to California, East to Montana and Utah.

Uses: Covering Fence or Trellis.

Note: Prone to Aphids, Powdery Mildew

Oregon Native or Naturalized in Oregon:  Yes

 USDA Hardiness Zone:  5

Resource: https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/lonicera-ciliosa

Horticulture Report: Columbine

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 Plant Name:  Aquilegia species

Common name:  Columbine

Plant Type:  Perennial

Plant Height:  10” – 36”

Plant Width:  10” – 12”

Bloom Time: May – July

Flower Color: Multicolor

Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Soil Requirements: Clay, Loam, Sand

Water Needs:  Average

Fire Resistant: YES; Zone 8 = Plant 30’+ from house. 

Attributes: Good Cut Flower; Showy; Deer Resistant; Attracts Bees, Butterflies, Hummingbirds; Many Colorful Hybrid Varieties.

Uses: Borders; Containers; Rock Gardens; Cottage Gardens; Native Gardens.

Note:  Remove spent flowers to prolong blooming; Self-seeds Prolifically; Prone to Powdery Mildew & Leaf Miners.

Native to: Northern Hemisphere

Oregon Native:  YES

 USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 – 9

Columbines

Report by: Viki Ashford, AGC Board Member

Photos by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member

Horticulture Report: Chives

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Plant Name:  Allium schoenoprasum

Common name:  Chives

Plant Type:  Perennial Bulb

Plant Height:  1’ – 1.5’

Plant Width:  1’ – 1.5’

Bloom Time: June – August

Flower Color: Pale Purple

Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade.

Soil Requirements: Average, Medium, Well-Drained.

Water Needs:  Medium

Fire Resistant: YES – Zone 1 – Plant 10’+ from house.

Attributes:  Showy Flower with Fragrant Leaves; Deer/Drought Tolerant; Attracts Butterflies, Bees, Pollinators; Consistent performer

Uses: Herb; Herb/Vegetable Gardens; Rock Gardens; Containers.

Note:  Self seeds unless spent flowers are deadheaded; Harvest Leaves by clipping at base of plant; Root Rot may occur in poorly drained soil. 

Native to: Temperate Northern Hemisphere

Oregon Native:   YES

 USDA Hardiness Zone: 4 – 8

Chives

Report by: Viki Ashford, AGC Board Member

Photo by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member

Today in the Garden

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Madia elegans:  Elegant tar weed.  This is blooming right now.  It is a sun-loving native annual that self-sows widely.  Drought and deer tolerant.  Blooms morning and evening, but closes up during the middle of the day.  See the bumble bee getting pollen off the flowers.  The plant is about 3′ high and 1 1/2′ high.  

Madia elegans:  Elegant tar weed

Epilobium canum, or California Fuchsia.  It used to be called Zauschneria californica.  It is a later blooming perennial.  It is drought and deer resistant.  This one is right near an alley and a driveway, and is fine with hot, dry soil.  Hummingbirds love it.  I plant it with dark blue Bachelors’ Buttons, annuals which seed around.

Epilobium canum: California Fuchsia

Gaillardia , or Blanket Flower.  It is a long-blooming perennial with interesting round seed heads.  If  some of the seed heads are left on, it will self-sow.  This particular plant is probably a hybrid, called Gaillardia x grandlora ‘Goblin’, which is a more compact cultivar.  The native is Gaillardia aristata.  It is drought tolerant and deer resistant.

Gaillardia: Blanket Flower

Praying Mantis on Verbena, previously seen eating a bee from the head down.  After crawling up on this bloom, she crawled down on the stem and basically disappeared, lurking until another insect came along.

Praying Mantis on Verbena

Photos and article by Sherri Morgan, AGC Vice President

Oregon Native: Pacific Wax Myrtle

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Botanical Name: Morella californica
Common Name: Pacific Wax Myrtle
Bayberry–Family  Myricaceae


Plant Type: Broad leaf Evergreen
Water use: Moderate -High
Growth: moderate rate to 10-30 feet (3-10m) tall and wide
Habitat:Usually occurs in wetlands but occasionally occurs in non-wetlands.
Characters: The leaves of Pacific Wax Myrtle are a bright, glossy green with black dots, pleasantly aromatic, pointed at the tip, with occasional teeth along the margins.  The flowers are tiny, but the fruit is attractive in clusters of dark purple, bumpy berries.
Native Plant: Yes 
Firewise: Yes
Attributes: The leaves of Myrica californica have a spicy aroma that can be used like bay leaves to season food, hence the plant is often referred to as California Bayberry.
Uses In the Landscape: The Pacific Wax Myrtle is our best native shrub for screening.  Several can be trimmed into a hedge or it can be mixed with other evergreens to create an informal screen.  Wax Myrtle also is able to fix-nitrogen in association with the bacteria, making this shrub especially useful for habitat restoration in soils with low fertility
Bloom Period:  May-June.
Fruit ripens November. Used by Wildlife:The fruit is eaten by many kinds of birds, most notably the “Myrtle” (Yellow-rumped) Warbler, but only in small quantities.
Use by People: Although Pacific Wax Myrtle is related to the Northern Bayberry, attempts at boiling the fruit to extract wax produces so little, to make it hardly worthwhile. A gray-brown or maroon-purple dye may be obtained from the berries.  Although the wood is reported to be heavy, very hard, strong, brittle and close-grained, this species is different than the Oregon Myrtlewood, Umbellularia californica, (AKA California Bay Laurel) used for artistic endeavors found in gift shops all along the Oregon coast.

Propagation:  Seeds collected in fall should be abraded or soaked in warm water to remove the waxy coating; they then require 3 months stratification at 40ºF (4ºC).  Heel cuttings of half-ripe wood in July or August reportedly have fair to good success.  Layering in the spring is the quickest method.

Larval Host to:

Banded Hairstreak
(Satyrium calanus)

Photo Credit: Megan McCarty, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Red-banded Hairstreak
(Calycopis cecrops)

Photo Credit: John Flannery from Richmond County, North Carolina, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

http://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-wax-myrtle-morella-californica/

Report provided by: Lynn Kunstman, Jackson County, Oregon Master Gardener and Wildlife Management

Posted by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member