top of page
Forest

Julia Lakey - Native Plants

IMG_2901.jpg
Squirrel

Washington NWF Habitat Stewards Training Classes

March 2023

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is offering a specialized, multi-week online workshop (via Zoom) to connect you with resources to create and restore wildlife habitat in backyards, schoolyards, and in your community.

Learn from local conservation professionals and current NWF Habitat Stewards while participating in this interactive, fun, and highly informative series!  Become a Habitat Steward volunteer with National Wildlife Federation and be supported to learn more about your interests and local opportunities.

Learn about:

  • SOIL  GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

  • NOXIOUS WEEDS

  • HABITAT RESTORATION

  • POLLINATORS (BEES)  and more

 

Virtual Trainings will take place from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesdays in March (7th, 14th, 21st, 28th). Optional field opportunites will be posted throughout the months of March and April.

NOTE: You must attend all four online trainings in order to receive your certification. Students/Teachers: Registration is free! All graduates  may receive a free pass to the Washington State Fair April 13th to 23rd, 2023 (when they volunteer to work the booth for three hours)
 

Dates & Times

March 7th
March 14th
March 21st
M
arch 28th

Tuesday evenings
6p
m - 9pm

FEE: $20
 

Per Julia:  
"A wonderful program with experts each week!"

 

Image by Ainārs Cekuls
Logo+title4.jpg
floweringcurrant.jpg
Oregon+Grape.jpg
PEAROSE.jpg


It's a new year and time to plan out those spring gardens. Did you know NATIVE PLANTS are a great solution to slow water flow, shore up eroding hillsides, and attract pollinators?

 Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust is offering 17 species of trees and shrubs this year, with some old favorites and never-before-seen varieties! 

Online ordering is open and will continue through January 29th. Order early, as some popular options will sell out. All plants are $12 for a bundle of 5 bare root starts. Unfamiliar with bare-root stock? Check out this video from our very own Stewardship Coordinator, Keller.

 

Ordering :      We will be accepting orders online from January 3rd - 29th.
                      No day of orders accepted;
all orders must be placed online.

Pickup day is Saturday, February 4th, from 9:00am - 1:00pm. 


Once orders have been placed, you will receive an email to sign up for your pick-up time. Pick-up windows will be in 15-minute increments.

 

Calling all volunteers!
 

 We are looking for folks to facilitate order pickup on February 4th. If you would like to help out, please email Keller: keller@vashonlandtrust.org
 

Presented : January 2023

THIMBLE.jpg
Red_Osier_Dogwood.jpg
SMOOTHSUMAC.jpg
Image by Quynh Do
IMG_5342.jpeg

Photo credit - Karen Dale

IMG_1315.jpg

The Pollinator Garden is brimming with seeds from at least two dozen types of flowers.  Bring containers and gather to your heart’s content!

 

The garden, located at the Matsuda Farm, is  available anytime.  Access is via the gated dirt road north of the old K-2 building on the main highway.

 

Would you consider joining our Pollinator Garden team?  We’re a group of islanders and meet informally about 3 times a month during the growing season

Get in touch to learn more!

 "The Pollinator Garden Project & Collecting Seeds" presented on 10/10/2022

Image by Jens Vogel
Image by Bekky Bekks
IMG_5309.jpg

 NW Meadowscapes is the premier grower of native NW wildflowers.  Order soon and plant in cool fall weather to replicate their favorite growing conditions.

presented on 4/11/2022

"Only 14% of nurseries grow native plants"

"April is Native Plant Appreciation Month"

violetpic.jpg
nettlespic.jpg

There are many beneficial uses for Stinging Nettle

Purple wood violets

Alpine Strawberries

 "Woodland (native) Strawberries" presented on 6/13/2022

Create an insect watering station!

bee-water-feeder-in-a-bowl.jpg
alpinestrawberry.jpg

Alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are a tiny type of strawberry known for their delicious, aromatic wild-strawberry taste. They are flavorful, luxurious, and extremely cute! Unlike their larger grocery-store counterparts, alpine and woodland berries haven’t been bred for size. These little beauties are all about the flavor! Alpine strawberries aren’t exactly a high-production crop, but they certainly are well worth growing in your garden.

"The berries have intense flavor and the leaves can be used in salads"   - Julia

biolive.jpg

presented on 3/17/2022

"Native Dirt"

juliabooks.jpg
Down20To20Earth20Greensand.jpg.webp

Use wood ash as a soil enhancer.

Singles_BoneMeal_718.jpg

"Soil works for you if you work for the soil."

"Check out my new favorite book!"

- purchased at the Vashon Bookstore.

Dandelion Seeds

presented on 2/14/2022

"Early Spring Blooms"

kiniknik.jpg

Kinnikinnick

(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

heather pic.webp

Scotch Heather

(Calluna vulgaris)

Snow

Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust

Native Plant and Tree Sale!

From Jan 3rd to 30th, 2022

- click here for plant list -

This month we have a unique opportunity to expand our native plantings through the Land Trust’s annual bare root sale.  Such local bargains!  Under $3 a plant typically; nurtured for a year, they would sell for $10 to 15 each.
The key is adequate care: while they may look lifeless, they need to be nestled in soil.  The safest care is to put them in pots where you see them and remember to water during our dry months.  After a season of care, they can be placed in more remote areas of your property. If there are more plants than you need, please consider them as nursery plants and bring them to next year’s Garden Club sale.


The Land Trust Species List has helpful descriptions and photos. (See link above) Natives can be amazingly versatile: my favorite Red Flowering Currant tolerates dry to moist soil in sun or part shade.  Hard to argue with that! The Garry Oak, our only Washington native oak, is drought tolerant and also found along streams.   Each description includes the birds and pollinators that favor it. How about a hedge row with the Currants and tuck some Sweet Gale where you need lower growing plants, such as near a walkway.


Plants can be ordered online now until Jan. 30th.  However, don’t delay because favorites sell out each year. Let’s give our native pollinators and birds a boost by planting natives!
                                                                                                           By: Julia Lakey on Jan. 2022

 

Pacific Wax Myrtle and Native Huckleberry 

presented on 

 

 12-13-2021

huckleberry.jpg
wax myrtle.jpg

Mountain Ash and

Red Osier Dogwood

presented on

 10-11-2021

mountain ash.jpg
red dogwood.jpg
WNFlogo2.png
Watercolor Butterfly 16

Julia gives us an update on the development of the Pollinator Garden  and the certification of Vashon Island as a National Wildlife Habitat. Vashon is now a Wildlife Habitat Community with the National Wildlife Federation.  We now join over 260 communities certified nationwide.

 

Create your own Pollinator Garden as Julia shares with us  the "how to"  steps. Click on the botton below for resources and watch the Presentation.

bottom of page