Now that we’ve entered the cold, damp time of year, it may be a stretch to recall how hot and dry our summers have become and to help your garden accommodate to that reality—but now is the time to plan for more drought-tolerant natives and attracting pollinators.
We’ve already listed some favorite trees and shrubs; this month we suggest other plants. Remember, you can view all of these in the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden. Info comes from Eileen Stark’s Real Gardens Grow Natives (Mountaineers, 2014).
Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi): evergreen ground cover with small, paddle-shaped leaves. Stems root where they touch the ground. Spreads slowly. Urn-shaped flowers in spring, bright red berries persist into winter.
Media manzanita is a hybrid between kinnikinnick and hairy manzanita, about a foot tall.
Orange honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa): vine with spectacular orange-yellow flowers, popular with hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and us! Wonderful in gardens, weaving through shrubs or growing up a trellis or fence.
Stonecrop (Sedum oreganum): succulent ground cover, leaves vary in color. Yellow flowers burst forth in summer.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): this native perennial blooms throughout summer and is a favorite of pollinators—and one of ours too. In nature, flowers are white; hybrids come in delicious colors—salmon, paprika, red wine…

Photos, in order: Kinnikinnick, orange honeysuckle, stonecrop, one of the magnificent colors of hybrid yarrow.

North Kitsap’s forests and gardens are drier than ever this summer, and climatologists are predicting this climate will prevail from now on. So it makes sense to rethink your garden (if you haven’t already done so) for drought tolerance. Given the Northwest’s traditional weather, are there native plants and trees that can adapt to the changing conditions?
Yes. But first, reconsider what constitutes “native.” Even in our lifetimes, warmer and drier conditions are altering Western Washington’s ecosystem, and the plants are responding. Hemlock trees are dying out; red cedar and others will follow. Many plants and trees are finding it easier to survive by migrating northward to Canada. In turn, many other species are moving up this way from California. It’s time to expand the notion of “native” to include species from farther south which are establishing themselves here.
Most of the trees and shrubs listed below can be seen in the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden. Consider them for your own garden. Unless otherwise noted, these grow in full sun to light shade. All are host to pollinators and birds. Info taken from Eileen Stark’s invaluable book, Real Gardens Grow Natives (Mountaineers, 2014). Next month, we’ll describe additional shrubs and other drought-tolerant plants.

Drought-tolerant TREES:
Douglas Fir (pseudotsuga menziesii), the iconic NW evergreen, prefers our traditional cool climate but can adapt to dry warm conditions. Hosts to many mammals and birds. Sun to partial shade.
Garry Oak (Quercus garryana), our only native oak. Slow-growing, reaches about 25 feet in 20 years, can grow to about 50 feet.
Incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), tall, aromatic, and handsome evergreen, named for the odor released when its leaves are damaged. More heat- and drought- tolerant than Western red cedar.
Madrona (Arbutus menziesii), deciduous broadleaf evergreen tree with dense wood and thin orange bark. Fragrant white flowers in spring. “Endearing, spectacular wildlife magnet.” One drawback to consider: it’s messy, sheds leaves and bark at various times during the year.

Some drought-tolerant SHRUBS:
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos), attractive, slow-growing evergreen shrub, with grayish-green, thick hairy leaves. Matures to 5-7 feet tall.
Oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), versatile deciduous shrub that blooms for a long period and is especially important for butterflies. Oceanspray’s fabulous creamy-white flowers are visible along the Hansville Road in spring and into summer.
Salal (Gaultheria shallon), low evergreen shrub, prefers partial shade. Has small rounded bell-like small flowers in rows, followed by fruit that resembles blueberries (but not as tasty). Grows 3-4 ft tall, and spreads easily but is also easily tamed back. A haven for butterflies, bees, many other insects and birds.
Silktassel (Garrya fremontii) (not elliptica). Attractive shrub with glossy evergreen leaves, grows to 8-10 feet. The long, pendant catkins begin their graceful show in winter when nothing else is blooming.

Volunteering in the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden is an ideal way to broaden your knowledge and contribute to the beautiful Hansville community! Work parties are every 1st and 3rd Monday thru October, 9-12--you’re so welcome and appreciated. Visit our website: www.bucklakegarden.com. For more on native plants locally, check out our Facebook page, Buck Lake Native Plant Garden--and also a new FB page full of activity, Kitsap County Native Plants.

‘Tis the season to be outside: nature is showing off in all her glory. But it’s also a good time to slow down and observe. The Native Plant Garden’s Mary Booth has some suggestions for ways to make fresh acquaintance with your natural surroundings:
Take a leisurely walk with intention, to see how flora and fauna around you are interacting. What captures your interest? What flowers, butterflies, birds, insects do you see, and how are they behaving? Take notes as you observe. Record the date, what you see in bloom, what colors seem to be attracting the bees (beautiful native blue ceanothus was out a month ago, and its legions of happy bees sounded like a loud avant-garde piece for string orchestra); your notes can become a valuable resource for use in your own garden.
What setting have you chosen (a meadow, near a stream, in woodland shade)? What plants readily grow there? Do some appear to grow near or under others? What kind of soil do they thrive in?
What insects and birds do you see, and what are they attracted to? Cedar waxwings were recently gorging on Oregon grape berries. Who is eating the elderberries? You might see a bird carrying twigs or bark or lichen, flying toward a place it’s building a nest—or, if her eggs have hatched, perhaps she’s gathering insects or worms for her young.
What do you hear in the trees that you might not be able to see? The Cornell Ornithology Lab has a wonderful app called MERLIN that allows you to identify a bird from its call, simply by holding the phone up toward the sound you hear.
Intentional, mindful observation allows us to perceive the synergy between native plants and wildlife. It’s also great for our blood pressure and our knowledge (and love) of the world around us.

Want to volunteer at the Native Plant Garden? Come to a work party. They’re on the first & third Monday morning of each month thru October, 9am-12. Website: www.bucklakegarden.com ; Facebook page: Buck Lake Native Plant Garden. Take the Hansville Garden Tour on July 8 (10 am – 4 pm), which benefits Hansville Helping Hands—one ticket entitles you to visit a half dozen gorgeous gardens at your own pace, including the BLNPG. (For info and tickets, Google “Hansville Helping Hands Garden Tour 2023.”)

This year, spring took a long time to arrive: April was almost over before the thermometer reached 60 degrees for the first time. Nevertheless, the blossoming started--nature’s irrepressible clock was ticking away.

Here are some considerations for the health of your native garden and its creatures. Normally we think only about plants, but you’re encouraged to enlarge the picture and consider the fauna in your garden. Bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles, hummingbirds and other birds are an essential part of the ecosystem as pollinators. Pollen sticks to the bodies of pollinators when they feed on nectar, a sugary fluid produced by flowering plants. The pollinators transfer pollen grains from plant to plant, et voilà, this fertilizes flowers and allows them to produce fruit and seeds.

To support pollinators, a garden should provide sources of nectar. Some early native bloomers to feed insects are manzanita, kinnikinnick, red-flowering currant, Indian plum, salmonberry, willow, fawn lily (our favorite early spring bloom), and tall Oregon grape.

Be a friend to baby birds, too. Their parents must find protein for them as soon as they hatch, so in the wilder and messier parts of your garden, nurture protein sources (caterpillars make delicious meals, as do insects and worms). Birds also need nest-building material, and the fledglings need safe places to hang out in, such as in foliage of trees and shrubs; holes made by sapsuckers in some trees (particularly paper birch) are also ideal places.

Before we get down and dirty (so to speak), here’s a belated thank you to the Hansville Community Center for donating this year’s proceeds from the annual Chili Cookoff in September to the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden. With these funds we created a curtain drain along the north end of the Garden and extending out into the park field. It is alleviating a lot of the pooling of winter rain in the field and shows that our community works best when it works together.

What is soil, and what should you know about it?
Soil is a mixture of minerals, gases, air, living and dead organisms, and water that together support life. It is constantly developing and changing via physical, chemical, and biological processes. The five major factors controlling how a soil forms and evolves are CLimate, Organisms, Relief (=landscape), Parent material, and Time— referred to as CLORPT. There’s a word for you!
Another great word: all the living organisms in soil (bacteria, fungi, microorganisms, worms, insects, etc.) are the edaphon. A handful of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands of species, mostly microbial and largely still unexplored. The living component of the soil resides largely in its uppermost layers.
Soils offer plants physical support, air, water, temperature moderation, nutrients, and protection from toxins. Soils provide nutrients to plants and animals by converting dead organic matter into various nutrient forms. And soil cleans water as it percolates through it.
Soil absorbs rainwater and releases it later, thus helping prevent floods and drought, flood regulation being one of the major ecosystem services provided by soil. Current vicious cycles of drought, fire, and flooding are the result of a mix of climate change, human actions (e.g. paving, industrial farming), and the desertification of its soil.

How can you have healthier soil in the garden?
Much to say here, such as rotating crops and preventing erosion, but here are two major factors in healthy soil.
Composting breaks down organic matter to enrich your garden soil. We’ve posted Joe Seals’s wonderful basic guide to composting at the bottom of the "Resources" page: print it out and keep for reference. One of its many wise points we didn’t know: the correct ratio of green stuff (fresh grass clippings, veg scraps, etc—the nitrogen) to brown stuff (dead leaves, coffee grounds, sawdust, aged manure—the carbon) in your compost should be 1 to 15 or even 1 to 30. Another thing: spread finished compost as a mulch on top, not mixed in with the soil; the nutrients will make their way down.
Soil pH is a measure of the soil’s acidity or alkalinity. A pH of 7 is neutral. The lower the pH, the more acid the soil. Acid-loving plants such as azalea, rhododendron, and blueberry thrive on acidic soil with a pH of 5 or 6.
How do you adjust the pH of soils in your garden? First, you must know its current pH. Then adjust it: dolomitic limestone neutralizes acidity and also adds magnesium to the soil, good for gardens in the Pacific Northwest where this nutrient is naturally low. Sulfur lowers pH—that is, acidifies the soil. pH-measuring and -adjusting products are available in local nurseries and online. Continue to monitor pH levels, since rainfall and other factors can alter the pH over time.

It may well be raining as you’re reading this edition of the Log. The skies seem to be trying to compensate for their radical summer-long neglect of our area. Now it’s time to think about water, and what to do with excess water in and around our gardens. We can influence the quality of the water with which we fill the aquifer (and the lakes and saltwater beyond), by helping Nature do the job of cleaning.
One wonderful option available to Kitsap County residents is to build a rain garden, because The Kitsap Conservation District can provide technical and material assistance. You can even apply for a grant from them that might pay for most of the project. A few years ago, two KCD guys came and assessed our water issues, tested different areas of the property for how well the soil drained, helped us choose a site, brought in machinery and dug the garden, spread good soil and planted plants (see below), and voila! For us it was all free: the drainage improved, and we’ve helped bless the water table and Salish Sea with clean water.
Even simpler: if there is a driveway or other roadway near your home, make a drainage swale. If you have a ditch to the side, plant it with wetland plants. This means plant not on the sides of the ditch, but right in the bottom. These plants filter out pollutants and allow clean water to seep into the ground, and they also add beauty to the property.
If there is a level area between your ditch and roadway, you can opt to plant grass there and mow it. You can even plant and mow grass on the ditch’s side slopes.
Three native wetland plants that will grow and spread in a drainage swale or rain garden, and which provide habitat for birds and insects:
Slough sedge (Carex obnupta) grows well in sun or shade. (In three years or so it develops a hearty rhizome system and can get quite dense. You can thin them to make room for more irises.)
Spreading rush (Juncus patens). Two kinds of rushes grow readily in our area. One is a yellow-tinged green and grows very (too?) vigorously; the rush we prefer is Juncus patens, more of a bluish green. You can see both in the drainage swale in the Native Plant Garden to the west of the main path, though we work at getting rid of the more aggressive variety.
Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana). This almost-native iris (common in California and Oregon) flowers a lovely bluish purple, favors rich soil, and will grow both in sun and shade.

For the Kitsap Conservation District’s program on rain gardens, see https://kitsapcd.org/programs/raingarden-lid .

As we know, nature is the recycler par excellence. While we are stomping on cardboard, washing cans and bottles, and separating plastic and paper, fauna and flora are doing so on a vast scale. Lichens, earthworms, beetles, mushrooms, and microscopic creatures spend their lives turning dead plants and animals into nutrients for new life. A case in point is rotting stumps and decaying logs, which might seem useless in gardens but are far from it.
Along with fall leaves, dead and downed wood is so essential that many plants cannot survive without it. Decomposing wood has many complex eco-functions like supporting fungi that live in symbiotic relationships with plant roots. Eventually, the stuff that may look messy to us turns into fertile soil which supports plants which support insects which support birds…
Here are two Northwest native plants that need decaying wood to thrive.
Red huckleberry (vaccinium parviflorum) grows directly out of the center of old stumps. It’s an attractive deciduous shrub with small flowers, and the berry that follows is a beautiful bright red, edible too. Your chances of success with red huckleberry increase by planting it with rotting wood or any decaying organic matter. It can look dead for up to two years, so don’t give up hope and pull it.
Bunchberry (Cornus unalaschkensis) is a charming deciduous ground cover, another plant that wants some rotting wood or other decaying organic matter as well as compost to grow well. Like red huckleberry, it is often difficult and slow to get established—up to two or three years—but is worth the wait. In spring it bears small dogwood flowers, just like its larger cousin, the lovely native dogwood tree (Cornus nuttallii). Bright red tight clusters of berries follow in late summer or fall. Bunchberry needs water throughout the growing season, preferring moist acidic soil in a cool area of your garden.

Pictured: Red huckleberry growing from a stump (image by Pam Keeley); Bunchberry's white blossoms (image by Halcy, https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/groundcover/bunchberry-dogwo...)