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.

Membership:
Welcome new members!! We hope to see you at our monthly classes and upcoming events.

Renewal Information:
Renewal notices will be emailed during the month in which it is due. Due to circumstances, it is currently the more expeditious and cost effective method.

Note:
Though you may still choose to mail in payments, 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!
Donations/Memorials.

Memberships/renewals help support our organization and our volunteer maintained gardens! Thanks to those who have renewed and have done so continuously and generously.

August Class
 
Please review the attached flyer for our class at the CASEE Center on Saturday August 16th at 10:00am ~ entitled Plant Bullies to Avoid in Your Landscape ~ conducted by Jennifer Mendoza, WSU Cowlitz County Master Gardener
Nobody wants bullies in their garden. Not all bullies are considered noxious weeds and some are still being sold at nurseries. There are various techniques better suited to control certain plants than others. She will also mention alternative plants which are somewhat similar to the bully plant but better for the landscape.
Please let me know if you would like to attend this class to
ensure proper chair set up and materials–members are
always welcome.
  
July Class–Recap

July’s class entitled Seasonal Bird Behavior conducted by Brandon Burger, Backyard Bird Shop Vancouver (www.backyardbirdshop.com) was so interesting! Many of us have experienced seeing examples of bird behavior which we may have thought unusual, only to find it is more common than we thought. We received some insights as to why birds do what they do!

Work Parties
Thanks to all of the extra volunteer hands in July prior to our Art in the Garden event getting the gardens is such great shape. We would love your help working in the gardens–please consider spending a few hours volunteering. On work days (typically a Saturday or Wednesday) volunteers are guided by one of our garden coordinators to work on needed tasks/projects in the various gardens.  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. We’d love to have you join us!
Note: Though we appreciate folks just dropping in to help, we want to ensure your time is not wasted–please check /use the signup to be sure it is a work party day.
Art in the Garden-Recap

I hope many of you braved the heat to attend this event–seems those who did, had a good time!. We heard many comments regarding the beauty of the gardens. So many visitors find it hard to believe it is all done by volunteers!

 

Music in the morning from Ready, Willing, and Able was greatly enjoyed and I even saw folks dancing! Later we heard from the Traveling Day Society drummers–always a favorite. Did you get to see the Spinners? Always fascinating to see them work! And we appreciate Clark County Composts for their participation. They were in their demonstration area teaching people the importance of composting.

We thank the artists and our many volunteers at the event and prior who made it happen! Due to the participating artist’s generous contributions to our raffle prizes we had four very happy winners. One of our winners (Bonnie) is a NS member who headed the min-plant sale at the event. Another winner (Linda) loves the gardens–when picking up her prize, she became a member on the spot and gave us a donation to boot. Winner (Carolyn) has a disabled relative who is frequently brought to the gardens by their caregiver–one of their favorite places. Winner (Liane) was out of town but dispatched her daughter to pick up her prize.
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 9th annual Perennial, Bulb and Seed Swap on October 11th this fall. Take your potted up perennials or bagged up bulbs 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…….

Garden Tidings…..

The gardens are there for folks to enjoy in many ways–here are some….

On a Thursday late afternoon/evening, our Cottage Garden coordinator got to enjoy the fruits of her labor for  a gathering of friends from her church. “We meet to support one another as friends. This time we decided to have a summer picnic, so I invited them to the garden.” 

 

 

Seen recently at the gardens… a group of artists were in the gardens doing sketches and paintings of the various things in the garden. One of them (Laura, who happened to be an NS member) sat in the Cottage Garden and did her painting. She agreed to share it with us.

 

Tours/talks

Our president, Meredith, represented NatureScaping of SW Washington last month at a nonprofit speed networking event hosted by Ripple NW and the Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. She spoke about volunteering opportunities at the gardens. Read about it (and see a pic of the back of her head) Volunteerism with a twist: Greater Vancouver Chamber and Ripple Impact NW team up for speed networking event.
Did you notice….

On the shed in the center of the gardens we have a new Summer bulletin board display welcoming guests. Come take a look in person next time you are there. Thank you Rosemarie!

 

 

Sharing……
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:
Comments:
From Google Business:
**Rowan–5 stars & comment: “This is a lovely botanical garden with a variety of different gardens. There are lots of birds flitting about if you enjoy bird watching and nice little spots to sit and enjoy yourself. Highly recommend”.
Nature Related Quote of the Month


From E. M. Forster: “What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?”

2025-08-16T13:12:04-07:00