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Elisabeth C. Miller Library

Keyword: Vaccinium ovatum

Hardy plants for near the shore

Do you have some suggestions for hardy, lower growing plants that would do well near the water? Our house is on the south side of Whidbey Island. The main plantings will be behind the house, thus roughly 75-100 yards from the shore. This part of the yard has early morning sun and then some shade in the afternoon. And, since we have a large yard at home we are working toward very low maintenance at the beach.

The following plants are mentioned in April Pettinger’s book, Native Plants in the Coastal Garden (Whitecap, 2002):

SHRUBS

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick)
Gaultheria shallon (Salal)
Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen huckleberry)
Rosa nutkana (Nootka rose)
Holodiscus discolor (Oceanspray)
Symphoricarpos albus (Snowberry)
Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grape)

NATIVE GRASSES

Festuca idahoensis (Idaho fescue)
Festuca idahoensis spp. roemeri (Roemer’s fescue)
Leymus mollis or Elymus mollis (Dunegrass)
Deschampsia cespitosa (Tufted hairgrass)
Festuca rubra (Red fescue)
Glyceria grandis (Reed mannagrass)
Muhlenbergia glomerata (Marsh muhly)

There are many other ideas in this book, which I highly recommend.

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growing huckleberries from seed

I live in the UK, and I have been given some of your Huckleberry seeds. Can you advise me on how to grow huckleberries from seed?

 

I am guessing that you mean that you have seed for one of the native
Pacific Northwest huckleberries, such as the evergreen (Vaccinium
ovatum), or red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium). It would be helpful to know which species you are hoping to grow from seed.

The website of Plants for a Future has propagation information for propagating Vaccinium species in general:

Seed – sow late winter in a greenhouse in a lime-free potting mix and
only just cover the seed. Stored seed might require a period of up to 3
months cold stratification. Another report says that it is best to sow
the seed in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe. Once they are about 5cm
tall, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a
lightly shaded position in the greenhouse for at least their first
winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or
early summer, after the last expected frosts.

Here are additional links to information:
Evergreen Huckleberry, or Vaccinium ovatum

Red Huckleberry, or Vaccinium parvifolium

Apparently, growing our native huckleberries from seed is challenging, as
the information cited here, from a propagation course at the University
of Washington, indicates: “Evergreen huckleberry can be propagated
through hardwood cuttings or by seed, however seedling establishment is
rare in most Western huckleberries.”

The United States Department of Agriculture has this to say:

Seeds of most Vaccinium spp. are not dormant and require no pretreatment for germination. Seedlings first emerge in approximately 1 month and continue to emerge for long periods of time in the absence of cold stratification.
However, seedlings of most western huckleberries are rarely observed in the field. Seeds of evergreen huckleberry usually exhibit fairly good germination under laboratory conditions, but early growth is generally very slow.

plants for attracting birds

I am planning a garden in Seattle and my highest priority is to attract birds. Do you have a list of plants I can use as a reference?

 

This is a more difficult question than one might imagine. According to Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest, “almost 300 species of birds are native to the Pacific Northwest. Many of them could call your yard home for at least part of the year, depending on what you provide for them. So it depends on what species of birds you want to attract and what environments they need.”

Source: Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest, by Russell Link (University of Washington Press, 1999, p. 48).

There is a lot of good advice on planning your garden with birds (and other creatures) in mind.

Washington Native Plant Society has a resource page devoted to native plants for wildlife.

The Miller Library has a booklist featuring titles on attracting wildlife to the garden: Information Resources for Gardening with Wildlife.

Another good source for this information is Native Plants of the Northwest, by Wallace W. Hansen.
The site has a page of wildlife habitat plant recommendations.

Following is an annotated list of plants that attract birds for western Washington: the oaks, chinquapin, Oregon myrtle, western hazelnut, cascara, and all trees in the Rose family (hawthorn, bitter cherry, chokecherry and Pacific crabapple). Native shrubs include: serviceberry, salal, all Oregon grapes, Indian plum, bittercherry, roses, blackcap, thimbleberry, salmonberry, Pacific blackberry, red and blue elderberries, russet buffaloberry, mountain ash, snowberry, and all huckleberries.

Seattle Audubon’s book and online resource, Audubon at Home in Seattle: Gardening for Life has a chapter on designing a garden to attract birds, and it includes a plant list.

planting to stabilize a steep slope

Can I plant groundcovers, shrubs, and trees to stabilize a steep slope?

 

There are several resources which will help you in
selecting plants to prevent erosion and mudslides on
your slope.

Please note that these articles are merely suggestions and should not be construed as advice. We are librarians, not engineers!

None of our standard books on trees mentions the soil binding quality of tree roots. However, the Miller Library does have very good technical books and articles on slope stabilization. (For example, Slope Stabilization and Erosion Control: A Bioengineering Approach, edited by R.P.C. Morgan and R.J. Rickson, 1995.)

I do want to note one thing that many articles mention: no amount of established vegetation will hold a steep slope if other forces are present that would contribute to a landslide.

The Department of Ecology website has a list of appropriate plants.

Additionally, there are a number of books with
information on the subject. Vegetative Contribution
to Slope Stability at Magnolia Park (by Kathy Parker, 1996)
recommends Oregon grape (Mahonia), which she suggests
for gentle slopes.

Other smaller plants she lists are:
Polystichum munitum (native sword fern)
Vaccinium ovatum (evergreen huckleberry)
Symphoricarpos albus (snowberry)

Larger shrubs in her list:
Alnus rubra (red alder)
Philadelphus lewisii (mock orange)
Sambucus racemosa (red elderberry)

Small trees:
Acer circinatum (vine maple)
Amelanchier alnifolia (serviceberry)
Corylus cornuta (hazelnut)

For steeper slopes, Parker says that they may not be
good candidates for vegetative rehabilitation unless
you put in some kind of structure. She says that Jute mats can be used in conjunction with native seed, mulch, and shrubs, if carefully anchored. She also mentions a Weyerhaeuser product called Soil
Guard.

Steep Slope Stabilization Using Woody Vegetation (by
Leslie Hennelly, 1994) has a plant list, as well as a chart which indicates plants used to control erosion, the degree
of the slopes, and the rate of success in resisting
erosion.

Two titles which focus more on the garden design
aspect of planting on a slope are
Hillside Gardening : Evaluating the Site, Designing
Views, Planting Slopes (by William Lake Douglas, 1987) and
Hillside Landscaping (by Susan Lang and the editors
of Sunset Books, 2002).

Garden Tip #151

If you grow blueberries and found shriveled gray fruit mixed in with normal plump berries your bush is infected with “Mummy Berry” disease. To lessen the severity of the disease in next year’s crop, gather all the mummy berries you can find and throw them away. Add mulch in autumn to cover up the infected mummies that fell to the ground, and then cultivate around the bush in early spring to disrupt the fungal life-cycle that starts in the soil. Details and color pictures.