Viburnum ellipticum
Oval-leaved viburnum (Viburnum ellipticum) is a deciduous shrub that brings three-season interest to any native garden. Clusters of small white flowers bloom in late spring and early summer. The berry-like fruit is red at first, becoming black when ripe. The simple oval leaves are 1-3″ long, coarsely toothed, and turn red in the autumn before dropping to reveal straight, upright central stems and widely spaced, horizontal branches.
This shrub supports pollinators and beneficial insects. Many birds and small mammals eat the berries, and birds nest and shelter in its branches.
Oval-leaved viburnum is native west of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington, where it is found mainly in dry open woods and lowland thickets. This shrub tolerates both seasonal flooding and drought, making it a hardy addition to the landscape. It does well as a border plant, such as at the edge of a wooded area. Pair it with snowberry, salal, and low Oregon grape for year-round beauty!
- Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade, Full Shade
- Water Requirements: Dry, Moist
- Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
- Growth Rate: Moderate
- Spreads: No
- Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: No
- Edible: No
- Mature Height: 5-15ft
- Mature Width:6-10ft
Golden Currant
Ribes aureum
Golden currant (Ribes aureum) is a small to medium-sized deciduous shrub named for its golden flowers and golden red fall foliage. While not native to the Willamette Valley, this highly drought-tolerant Pacific Northwest native is common in Oregon and Washington east of the Cascades and into the Great Basin, and is an excellent choice for urban environments in a changing climate.
Golden currant grows in full sun and partial shade, in dry to moist conditions, and is drought tolerant. The leaves are deciduous, lobed, and vaguely maple-like, ½ – 1½ inches. Charming clusters of yellow flowers bloom from mid- to late-spring. Golden currant grows to approximately 6 feet tall by 6 feet wide.
It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies such as the spring azure and mourning cloak, and the fruit is eaten by birds and other wildlife. Combine this in a sunny spot with its cousin, red-flowering currant, and drought-tolerant groundcovers like alliums and camas, for a beautiful native display!
- Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
- Water Requirements: Dry, Moist
- Ease of Growing:
- Growth Rate: Moderate
- Spreads: No
- Wildlife Support: Hummingbirds, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: No
- Edible: Yes
- Mature Height: 6ft
- Mature Width:6ft
Goat’s Beard
Aruncus dioicus
Goat’s Beard has decorative finely-cut foliage and will create a bold, showy effect for a moist or partly-shaded spot all season. Dense, feathery plumes of tight white flowers rise well above the foliage spring to summer.
Goat’s Beard is an excellent background plant or grouped in a woodland setting. It dies back to the ground in winter, only to return gloriously in the spring. Goat’s Beard spreads slowly by rhizomes to form attractive patches, and can be planted in more sunny areas provided there is good moisture. It’s a “host” plant to the Dusky Azure Butterfly.
- Light Requirements: Part Shade, Full Shade
- Water Requirements: Moist, Perennially Wet
- Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
- Growth Rate: Fast
- Spreads: Yes
- Wildlife Support: Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals, Pollinators
- Fire-resistant: No
- Edible: No
- Mature Height: 5-15ft
- Mature Width:3-5ft
Wild Ginger
Asarum caudatum
Groundcover with unique maroon flowers hidden under heart-shaped glossy leaves in spring; it has edible roots.
- Light Requirements: Part Shade, Full Shade
- Water Requirements: Moist
- Ease of Growing: Moderate, Difficult
- Growth Rate: Moderate
- Spreads: Yes
- Wildlife Support: Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: No
- Edible: Yes
- Mature Height: 6in
- Mature Width:3ft
Pacific Crabapple
Malus fusca
Pacific crabapple (Malus fusca) is found in Western Oregon and north through Washington State into Canada and Alaska. It prefers moist woods and is often found at the edges of wetlands. It’s the perfect tree for a wet corner of the garden.
In spring, crabapples bloom with fragrant clusters of pinkish-white blossoms. By mid-summer, 3/4″ long fruits appear. The crabapples turn yellow to reddish in the fall, and often hang on the tree all winter, providing both visual interest and food for wildlife. The leaves of this showy tree also turn orange and bright red in autumn, binging lovely fall color to any garden.
The flowers attract large numbers of native bees including mason bees and bumblebees, and butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves. The fruits are a favorite of birds and small mammals, and the dense foliage provides both food and cover for wildlife.
Pacific crabapple grows best in full sun and moist to wet soils. Plant it with other wet-loving natives such as serviceberry, red osier dogwood, and Pacific ninebark for year-round color and wildlife habitat!
- Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
- Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
- Ease of Growing: Moderate
- Growth Rate: Moderate
- Spreads: No
- Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Hummingbirds, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: Yes
- Edible: Yes
- Mature Height: 30ft
- Mature Width:25ft
Pacific Ninebark
Physocarpus capitatus
Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) is a dense deciduous shrub growing up to 12 feet tall. The name refers to the unusual bark, which naturally peels off in many colorful layers.
The shrub has maple-like lobed leaves and attractive clusters of small white flowers in May and June. The unique fruit is a glossy red pod which turns dry and brown, and then splits open to release seeds.
The twigs, berries, buds, and leaves are all browsed by wildlife. Pacific ninebark is very important for pollinators, especially solitary bees who lay their eggs and take shelter for the winter in the hollow stems. Pacific ninebark is also a food source for the young of spring azure butterflies, and many birds use it for nesting.
It is often found in wetlands, but also forms thickets along rivers and in moist forest habitats. It can also tolerate some drought. Create a dense deciduous screen by growing it in combination with oceanspray and Douglas spirea, or a tunnel by planting on both sides of a walkway and pruning its lower branches. Best in full sun to part shade.
- Light Requirements: Part Shade
- Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
- Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
- Growth Rate: Fast
- Spreads: Yes
- Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: Yes
- Edible: No
- Mature Height: 8-12ft
- Mature Width:4-7ft
Tufted Hairgrass
Deschampsia cespitosa
Tufted Hairgrass is found around the world including the eastern and western coasts of North America, parts of South America, and Eurasia. It is a native, perennial, tussock forming grass found along stream banks and in moist meadows, fields, wet ditches and open areas surrounding lakes and ponds. Tufted hairgrass is a large densely tufted, course, long lived, perennial bunch grass. It has bright green foliage and a large volume of fountain-like seed culms emerging in early spring, making it highly aesthetic. Tufted hairgrass prefer open sites. This grass is rarely, if ever an under story species of temperate forest communities (Brown et al. 1988).
In the Pacific Northwest tufted hairgrass form pure stands in wet and intermittently flooded areas such as tidal mudflats and estuaries plant communities. It grows in seeps bogs, and brackish waters along the coastal waterways. It is very salt tolerant grass and, as a result, is commonly included in many restoration or re-vegetation projects where brackish water exists.
Tufted hairgrass is also a rapid colonizer of disturbed sites at high elevations (8,000 ft – Cascade & Sierra Range). Such characteristics make it valuable for reclamation of disturbed high elevation mines, ski slopes and high elevation meadows. Tufted hairgrass, unlike blue wildrye, is genetically heterogeneous, self-incompatible and requires wind and insect pollinators for effective fertilization. Tufted hairgrass should be included in wetland, restoration projects since it provides very dense nesting foliage and has a very long summer green period. It is also a valuable stream bank erosion plant where long-term stabilization is necessary, and should be established with a nurse crop (blue wildrye, meadow barley, California brome, Alaska brome) or native straw mulch for superior first year establishment.
- Light Requirements: Full Sun
- Water Requirements: Dry, Moist, Seasonally Wet
- Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
- Growth Rate: Fast
- Spreads:
- Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: No
- Edible: No
- Mature Height: 2-3ft
- Mature Width:1-2ft
Cascara
Frangula purshiana
Cascara (Frangula purshiana) is found along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to northern California along riverbanks and in other moist locations.
A hardy, compact, attractive tree, it is often planted in Portland’s parking strips. In the spring it produces clusters of small, green-white flowers. In late autumn, the leaves turn a delicate yellow and persist through many a winter storm.
The flowers attract many pollinators in early summer such as Lorquin’s admiral butterflies. Pale swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves. Birds enjoy the fruit, but they are toxic to humans and should be avoided.
- Light Requirements: Part Shade, Full Shade
- Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
- Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
- Growth Rate: Slow
- Spreads: No
- Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Birds or Mammals
- Fire-resistant: Yes
- Edible: No
- Mature Height: 30ft
- Mature Width:20ft