Featured Photo: Suzie Savoie from KSNS was recently featured on the cover of the Grants Pass Daily Courier’s July 2024 edition of their Home and Garden publication, with an accompanying article that highlighted recommendations for growing pollinator friendly gardens.
This summer many of KSNS’ long-term native seeding and planting projects have reached full maturity after years of growth, and some new ones are taking shape. We’d like to highlight some of the native seeding projects we have helped with in this blog to show the variety of applications where native seeds and plants can be used. Each site and project has its own site-specific conditions and situations to be considered: soils, slope, aspect, elevation, shade vs. sun, moist vs. dry, weed pressure, critter impacts (deer, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, gophers, voles etc.), long-term site maintenance, and unexpected issues that are always bound to come up.
It feels good to see some really slow growing species, like balsamroot, mule’s ears, lomatiums, etc., finally start to bloom and set seed in some of the longer term projects. It can easily take 5-7 years for some slow growing species to mature, so patience is a virtue with native seeding projects. Down the road you’ll be very happy you took the time and investment to sow native seeds—and had the patience! It pays off with beautiful blooms and pollinators!
KSNS native seeding project on a conserved private property on Mt. Ashland in its 8th growing season
Butterfly walk through the native gardens this summerScarlet gilia, sharptooth angelica, heartleaf milkweed and morePathway lined in velvet lupine, scarlet gilia, arrowleaf buckwheat and moreArrowleaf buckwheat, sulphur flower buckwheat, owl’s clover, lupine and moreAzure penstemon along a path lined in wildflowersArrowleaf buckwheat in full bloom!Showy milkweed and scarlet gilia spill into the pathwayAn explosion of color! Native wildflower meadow in full bloom!
This is how it looked when we started in 2016
Klamath River Club native seeding and planting project along the Klamath River in its 7th growing season
Butterflies on milkweed in the KRC native plant gardensPaintbrush and poppies in the seeded meadowSilver lupine and oregon sunshineMilkweed bugs on showy milkweedSuzie in the bright Oregon sunshine bloomsLuke next to a very tall western/cobwebby thistle in the hedge.Penstemon, milkweed and native bunchgrassesNative hedgerows full of native wildflowers and shrubsNative hedge in year 7 of growthNative wildflowers with the hedge in the backgroundBlack oaks provide shade and cover for the many birds and pollinators that use the native plant gardensA bench provides a spot to sit and take it all inWild forget-me-not moth (Gnophaela latipennis) on showy milkweedThe milkweed stands sustain and support many monarchs, chrysalis and caterpillars every summerNative hedge full of klamath plum, elderberry, serviceberry, manzanita, western redbud, and morePathway through the native plant gardensshowy milkweed showing offMid season blooms will be followed by another wave of later blooming species
Summer 2024
This is how it looked when we started in 2017
Troon Vineyard Native Plant & Pollinator botanical garden in the Applegate Valley in its 4th growing season
Tour of the Troon Vineyard Native Plant & Pollinator Botanical GardenTroon Vineyard map welcomes visitors to the Native Plant & Pollinator Botanical GardenAdditional area planted nearby that used transplanted plants from the original seeded areasElegant tarweed (Madia elegans)Squirreltail grass (Elymus elymoides)Looking back at the tasting room area from the native plant gardensLots of barestem buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum) blooming yellowA mosaic of forests, grasslands and chaparral habitats grow nearby Troon, and the native gardenshelp connect habitat from the foothills to the valley. Milkweed, Roemer’s fescue and barestem buckwheatHeartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia) blooming well after four years since the seeds were sown.Grand collomia (Collomia grandiflora) in the foreground.Collomia, hot rock penstemon, and California brome in the foreground.Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is best grown in dry areas so it doesn’t take over. Looking towards the meadow area, with arrowleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum) blooming white on the right.Purple flowers of elegant brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans). Yellow flowering sulphur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum).Hot rock penstemon (Penstemon deustus) in the foreground.
Summer 2024
This is how it looked when we started in November 2020
Native seeding habitat restoration of an old cannabis grow site in the Applegate Valley in its 2nd growing season
The Klamath-Siskiyou region is riddled in old, backwoods cannabis grow sites. Many had turned previously wild or natural areas into agricultural zones that left behind invasive weeds and disturbed soils. The cannabis market has dwindled and many people are now wanting to restore these sites to native habitat. The so-called “green rush” left behind a lot of impacted areas, and we are thankful that cannabis can now legally be grown in agricultural zones, where it belongs, and the intact native habitats and backcountry areas can retain and restore their native plant communities.
This is how the backwoods grow site on a steep slope looked in June 2024, after two seasons of growth after native seeding. The old fencing has been left in place to protect the seeded area from deer and turkeys for the first couple years, but will be removed in year three, after the native plants have established.
Bluehead giliaMenzies’ fiddleneckSilver lupine and blue dicksWestern verbenaNative plants restored in an old cannabis grow siteRoemer’s fescue seedlingsOregon sunshineOregon sunshine and silver lupine seedlingsBrodiaea, California brome, Oregon sunshine and more
Instead of weeds and garbage, there’s now wildflowers and bumblebees!
This is what the site looked like before we got started in fall 2022, with the old cannabis stalks still in place.
After cleaning up the site of old plastic and terracing, the site was burned using a propane torch in the late fall when the weather cooled and the rains returned, just prior to native seeding. This site prep helped aid seed germination and limit weed pressure, but weeding has still taken place since the seeding took place.
Ashland Mine Road native seeding project on berms, interspersed with planted native shrubs and trees, in its first growing season
Annual wildflowers bloomed the first year while the perennials got their roots established to bloom in future years.
Vinegarweed, blow wives, fiddleneck and giliaCalifornia dandelion (Agoseris grandiflora)Oregon sunshine, seablush, silver lupine and moreIdaho gumweed seedlingLots of native seedlings!Tarweed, poppies, fiddleneck, Oregon sunshine and moreLooking along the seeded bermPoppies and moreThe seeded berm, year 1Poppies, blow wives, fiddleneck, tarweed and moreCoyote mint, clarkia, yarrow, poppies and more
This is how it looked when we started in fall 2023
KSNS Burn pile seeding project in the Applegate Valley, in its first growing season
We have been turning burn pile areas into wildflowers for 20 years on our own property, and we like helping others do the same. Many rural people burn debris for various reasons, and each burn pile is an opportunity to grow native plants! Most native plants are adapted to fire and their seeds germinate well in the ash and char left behind after a fire. Some plants have seeds that are triggered by the pH change after fire, and not from the direct heat itself, and a burn pile can help create that pH to aid seed germination. Burn piles also help clear the area of competing weeds, helping provide a nice space for little seedlings to grow without a lot of weed pressure.
Small burn piles can be spread around and seeded when burning is completed and the area has cooled. Many small burn piles turns into a lot of wildflowers spread all around.
A large, hot burn pile can be turned into a cool and diverse native wildflower habitat.
Seablush, collomia, poppies, lupine and Oregon sunshineTemporary fencing was used to keep deer and turkey pressure down while the seedlings establishVarileaf phacelia, arrowleaf buckwheat, Roemer’s fescue, blow wives and moreLots of color in year 1Weeding around the edges has helped keep weeds at bay.Some watering has helped the seedlings establish and grow the annuals quicker and put on more flowers in the first year. Some open areas in the burn pile area will fill in with more seedlings from this year’s annuals next spring.This year the annuals put on a show, but in the future the perennials will start to shine.
