Buck Lake Garden articles published in the monthly Hansville Log highlight seasonal activity in the garden.
Look for fragrant Nookta Rose (Rosa nutkana) blooming in profusion on tall bushes parallel to the wooden fence. The pink flowers attract butterflies, bees, and deer. In winter red berries, known as hips, feed juncos, grosbeaks, chipmunks, rabbits, and deer.
The garden isn’t just about the flowers. Take time to enjoy the foliage, bark, rocks, mosses, and lichens too. Consider taking a tour of BLNPG with a docent. Contact the garden for more information.
White flowers bloom at the ends of the leaves of two varieties found near the south entrance to the garden. False Solomon’s Seal’s (Maianthemum racemosum) flower is fragrant and the fruit feeds our woodland birds in summer and fall. Star-flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Mianthemum stellata) has smaller starry shaped white flowers. Both are good ground covers in shady gardens.The author has forgotten much of her Latin but noticed “mai” included in the scientific name and sure enough Maianthemum means May blossom.
The ethereal white Fawn Lilies bloom first and the pink Fawn Lilies bloom later. One to three nodding flowers adorn a leafless stem atop paired basal, oblong, dark green and brown mottled leaves. Look for drifts of them near the shaded wooden bench. These Erythronium oregoneum and Erythronium revolutum nourish our hummingbirds.
Observe Native Plant Appreciation Week April 21- 27
Native and non-native (let’s call them “introduced”) plants can happily co-exist in your garden. Even those of us who love natives can’t resist those beautiful plants at the nursery, themselves native to such far-away places as China, Australia or South Africa. Not only are they expensive, we buy and plant them with full knowledge that they may require more TLC than their native counterparts. They will likely need amended soil, more water and something to keep those pesky slugs/snails and deer at bay. Often, they prove to be short-lived in our climate. Buy them, plant them near your house, where they are easier to tend, and enjoy their beauty. That said, give your back and your budget a break and start adding native plants into your beds. They blend seamlessly with their more fussy cousins, are adapted to our soils and climate and require less maintenance.
Our native ferns (there are many) co-mingle happily with introduced perennials and shrubs. Add broadleaf stonecrop or Oregon stonecrop (native sedums) to your rockery. In early spring, Pacific Coast iris, with their colorful blooms, can be the star of your garden. The flowers and scent of Western azalea rival those of any introduced azalea cultivar. Try a black twin-berry, flowering current or silk tassel bush as a specimen shrub. Better yet, if you have room, consider planting a hedgerow of mixed natives for privacy and wildlife habitat.
Check out the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden website (bucklakenativeplants.org) for more information on these plants and others, or consider joining our group at one of our work parties (dates also posted on our website) to learn about gardening with natives.
In the wild, Camassia leichtlinii, commonly known as great camas, is found in damp mountain meadows and grasslands. Visit the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden in early spring and look for the purple, pale blue and cream-colored flowers in our own camas meadow near the south entrance. We feature two different varieties and one cultivar of great camas. Camassia leichtlinii caerulea (purple) and alba (cream-colored) are 24"-30" tall; C. leichtlinii 'Blue Heaven,' (pale blue) is somewhat smaller. Another familiar Northwest camas species, Camassia quamash, common camas, is almost indistinguishable from great camas in appearance and grows in the same habitat. Currently, they are not planted in the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden.
Camas prefers a sunny location, plenty of winter moisture and little to no moisture in the summer, when it goes dormant. It puts on its beautiful bloom display in April and May in the BLNPG. Camassia leichtlinii caerulea and C. leichtlinii 'Blue Heaven' begin the show in April, followed by C. leichtlinii alba in May. (Due to our cool spring, bloom times may be slightly later this year.) Planted initially as bulbs, when the camas flowers are allowed to die back naturally and set seeds, they will naturalize freely. Camas flowers provide nectar for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.
Camas bulbs were an important staple food for the indigenous population of the Western U.S. Bulbs were harvested in the autumn, after the plants died back, and were baked or pounded into flour. They were such an important food source that fields of camas were cultivated and, in some tribes, were owned and inherited.