Our Bedrock
Mission Statement: Gardens and programs that inspire, educate and enrich our lives and our community.
Purpose Statement: To educate and encourage citizens on the importance of developing, restoring, maintaining and conserving wildlife habitat and the native plants that comprise that habitat.
Welcome new members!! We hope to see you at our monthly classes and upcoming events.
And to those who have renewed–thank you so much! Memberships help support our organization and our gardens! Renewal notices (for the most part except for exceptionally large volume months in which case they are emailed) are sent out via USPS during the month in which it is due.
Note: We can now accept memberships and renewals online with this link: Membership/Renewals.
However, to help us cover our processing costs for the convenience of using online payments, it is necessary to include those costs in our online membership fees. Amounts remain the same as before for checks/cash.
Separate donations can also be transacted online!
August Class
Saturday August 17th at 10:00am ~ entitled Battle Ground Blooms-a family-run flower farm ~ conducted by Andy and Tobie Bryant, owners of Battle Ground Blooms (www.battleground blooms)
Would you like to grow more flowers? Come join us to learn about why a husband and wife team started a flower farm and cut flower business. They will discuss a “year in the life” on the farm, growing practices, and the many challenges faced along the way. We’ll look at some interesting annuals, perennials, shrubs and bulbs that can add interest to your landscape and benefit a variety of pollinators and birds.
July Class–Recap
Brandon from the Backyard Bird Shop Vancouver (www.backyardbirdshop.com) conducted another great class on the topic of Northwest Backyard Nesting Birds. We learned about several species in regards to when, where, and how they build their nests, as well as incubation times, fledging, parent participation and other nesting related activities. Fascinating!
Saturday Morning Work Parties
We could always use more help in the gardens! Get your hands dirty and volunteer! Our Saturday morning work parties (SMWP) will last through October. Each Saturday morning (from 9:00am to noon) volunteers are guided by one of our garden coordinators to work on needed tasks/projects in the various gardens. Non-Saturday dates and other opportunities may also be available at times. We have a sign-up system using SignUpGenius. Additional sign up dates will be routinely added. To sign up to work on listed days, here is the link: SignUpGenius
Art in the Garden-Recap
We hope many of you had a chance to attend this event–seems those who did, had a good time! We thank the artists and our many volunteers who made it happen! The gals did such an amazing job with the raffle “sales” that we broke our record! Due to the participating artist’s generous contributions to our raffle prizes we had four happy winners. For two winners who attended together, it was their first visit to the gardens and both won! Another winner (an MG) was there to help one of the artists. The last winner had been to the gardens before (plant sale) but first time at this event.
Yes, it was a warm day as predicted–we started out with a strong attendance before the day heated up. The morning visitors were entertained with jazz music by the Lorna Baxter Trio. Later we heard from the Traveling Day Society drummers–always a favorite. At the end of the day, though we didn’t have as many visitors as last year due to the heat, we’d say it was a success–folks were having fun and the gardens looked great thanks to our devoted gardeners and volunteers!
Save the Date
Perennial, Bulb & Seed Swap
While working in your yards…..look ahead to sharing some plants, bulbs and seeds at the Wildlife Botanical Gardens 8th annual Perennial, Bulb and Seed Swap on October 12th this fall. Take your potted up perennials or bagged upbulbs and seeds and trade them in for new specimens at our annual swap–you may be surprised by what you might find. More information to come…….
Bug Walk
Recently Amy Campion kindly led two bug walks in the gardens. We were on the lookout for any/all bugs (mostly bees) that we could identify. Amy shared her extensive knowledge of the insects and their habits that we encountered.
Did You Notice….
New planter boxes with attached benches in the Hummingbird Garden. See pic.
Sharing……
Always striving to best share information, our standard flyers in display boxes at the gardens are now on our website. Find them referenced on the following pages:
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/flying-flowers-garden/
https://naturescaping.org/the-gardens/hummingbird-place/
Booklet
With funding from a Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) grant and with many volunteer hours from committee members (you know who you are) a longtime dream has been fulfilled.
We have created a free 52-page booklet as an educational tool that includes dozens of high-quality photos, descriptions and other information regarding native plants found at The Wildlife Botanical Gardens and reasons to incorporate them in your landscape. Here is the link to finding it on our website:
https://naturescaping.org/resources/free-booklet/
Recent Comments:
Visitors sharing their thoughts of and experiences at the gardens….
From Business Google:
Kirt–5 star review, photos & comment: “Fantastic gardens run by all volunteer gardeners. Once a year in July they host Art In The Park with local artists”.
Gib–5 star review & comment: “Hidden gem. Nicely curated and well maintained. If you need a peaceful spot, this’ll do”.
Nanyo–5 star review, photos & comment: “Some paths are hard to find but it’s very nice place with nice fresh air and a variety of different flowers and trees. A lot of cute rabbits or bunnies idk and birds.”
Colleen–5 star review
Jean–5 star review, photos & comment: “Beautiful, tranquil and fascinating. We walked through the themed gardens and enjoyed all the plants and birds. Every turn was a new discovery. Very nicely laid out.”
Note: See recent photos posted by visitors:
From Comment Cards:
Anonymous (found online)–Excellent rating
Marcus–Excellent rating–Driving by many times and brought the family: “Loved the Butterfly handout” (added heart drawing).
Nature Related Quote of the Month
From Zac Posen: At the end of the day, you can’t compete with Mother Nature. If you’ve got a great tomato, just a pinch of sea salt is all you need.
Enjoy and stay cool!