For millennia people have been planting and cultivating native plants that grow wild around them for food, medicine, ceremonial or ornamental purposes. In the Klamath-Siskiyou region indigenous people — the Karuk and Takelma, for example — historically cultivated native coyote tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) and Indian tobacco (Nicotiana quadravalis) for smoking according to tribal customs. This tradition still lives on in some places.

In M. Kat Anderson’s pivotal book, Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources, she explains how other plants were either deliberately planted, transplanted, or otherwise encouraged for better growth or a more convenient harvesting location by Indians, namely near village sites. These include, but are not limited to, Hind’s walnut (Juglans californica var. hindsii), hazelnut (Corylus cornuta var. californica), oak species, such as the preferred black oak (Quercus kelloggii) or tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus), and many bulbs, tubers, or corms, such as camas (Camassia quamash and Camassia leichtlinii), yampah (Perideridia spp.), mariposa lilies (Calochortus spp.), lomatium (Lomatium spp.), and brodieaeas (Brodiaea, Dichelotstemma, and Triteleia spp.), to name but a few.

As modern humans living in this same, yet altered landscape, we can continue this relationship to native plants that surround us in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. We may not be harvesting camas to eat it anymore — although some still do — but we can plant camas and other native bulbs to add to the ecological diversity of our own backyards, landscaping and homesteads to provide beauty for ourselves, and habitat for the wild critters that still depend on native plants to thrive.

    While the modern nursery industry is hell-bent on developing the next, newer, and supposedly better cultivated strains to keep commercializing and patenting plants for commercial production, the option of sticking to native, localized plant genetics — unaltered by the manipulation of industry — remains for plant enthusiasts who want to encourage a healthy and vibrant native ecosystem. We can all do our part to keep native plant populations alive and well by growing natives. Grow Native, Grow Wild!

Shipping prices are normally 50 cents per pack, but please contact us for exact shipping prices for your order, or for bulk shipping prices: klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com or call us at 541-890-1483. Thanks! Plan ahead for next year and let us know what seed you need us to pick for you this coming summer and fall. Advanced orders are welcome! To download the seed availability chart — or to see it in bigger font — click on the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m7zu6989eakaptn/AADtjGevy2fnfVZZa1cBpBRya?dl=0

 

Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds offers a wide selection of native seeds from throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou region. From low-elevation oak woodlands and grasslands; up through mid-slope forests, streams and draws, to the high-elevation meadows and craggy ridgelines of the region. Seeds off all kinds of herbaceous and woody plants are offered: annual wildflowers, perennial wildflowers, woody shrubs, hardwood and conifer trees. All our seed is wildcrafted, hand-picked, cleaned by hand and packed by hand, then stored with care until your order.

Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds can be used in the following applications:

• Habitat restoration
• Pollinator gardens
• Rock gardens
• Butterfly gardens
• Native plant gardens
• Ornamental use
• Wetland reclamation
• Permaculture
• Wild tending
• Food forests

Contact us at: klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com to place an order or for further information. Coming soon…Shopping cart capability on an upgraded website will be available by fall, 2015! We will make a concerted effort to get all orders out in a timely manner; however, we do live in a remote location and may take a week to get to town to mail off your order. Thanks for your patience.

Below is a photo gallery highlighting some of our seed offerings, places where we pick seeds and the local places that inspire us.