I’ve taken up planning plants for our office, and wondered if
you could give advice. I’m looking for Northwest native plants that would be
happy indoors, in an office environment. Available sunlight will vary by
spot but is generally low (but I can probably swing some plant lights); air
is standard low-humidity commercial-building air.
Most Northwest native plants I can think of are not ideal for growing
indoors. However, I asked my colleague who used to garden for the Seattle
Public Library, and she says that the library is growing native species
of ferns indoors. She notes that they are especially prone to pests
(whitefly) and diseases (scale), and must be watered every day.
Below is the list of plants being grown in the main (Central) library
branch:
- Acorus
- Blechnum spicant
- Adiantum pedatum
- Carex elata ‘Bowles Golden'(tall)
- other fern (Rumohra adiantiformis?)
I hope this helps. If you wish to reconsider using natives in favor of
more traditional choices for indoor plants, there are many more choices
available. Below are a few links that may be use to you:
Low Light Houseplants from University of Vermont Extension
Growing Indoor Plants with Success from University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
Interior Plants: Selection and Care from University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
We need some advice and we are hoping you can help. We would like to replant the banks of our fish pond and want to know what kinds of plants would hold a steep slope and be compatible with the fish and each other. We have a large deer and elk population and we get substantial amounts of rain. We like grass-type shrubs and we need a ground cover that will not take over and is evergreen.
From the research I have done, it seems that a pond with a sloping side is a very good idea, but if erosion is a serious issue, you may want to think about both plants and physical controls such as coconut fiber matting to stabilize the banks. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s guide (1997), The Natural Water Garden, has a description of using coconut fiber tubes (also called biologs) laid horizontally along a bank, which can also be used as a secure planting medium for seedlings.
As far as deer-resistant plants which may work for your site, iris and spiraea appear to be unappealing to deer, so you might want to try some of the irises which prefer moist situations, such as Iris laevigata, and Iris versicolor (blue flag), as well as Spiraea douglasii (hardhack).
Other plants which may help with preventing erosion are Lysichiton americanum (skunk cabbage), Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern), Carex obnupta (sedge), and Cornus stolonifera (red osier dogwood) or C. alba (red twig dogwood).
Some grassy or reedy plants which do well as marginal (water’s edge) plants include Acorus calamus ‘Variegatus’ (variegated sweet flag), Pontederia cordata (pickerelweed), Sagittaria latifolia (American arrowhead), and Typha latifolia (cattail). All of these are deciduous.
For evergreen plants, you could try Scrophularia auriculata ‘Variegata’ (water figwort), an evergreen perennial with cream-edged foliage. The flowers should be deadheaded to prevent self-seeding. Thalia dealbata (hardy canna) is evergreen, with long-stalked blue-green leaves and violet flower spikes.