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 members–those who have renewed and those newly joined! Thank you! Memberships help support our organization and our gardens!
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!
December Class
Saturday December 17th at 10:00am entitled ~Landscaping with PNW Native Plants ~ conducted by Hannah Schrager, Owner of Good Year Farms (www.goodyearfarms.com).
This class will leave you with a better understanding of how to select the right native species for your space in part by using ecological cues. Learn how to create structure, how to source natives and how to improve your backyard habitat overall.
November Class-Recap
We had a good turn-out for our annual Native Mason Bee class with Brigg Franklin, our Mason Bee keeper and Worm Wrangler! We saw some great videos (including one of Brigg recorded at The Wildlife Botanical Gardens talking about Mason Bees which can also be seen on our website: Video). Attendees, (including approx.18 CASEE students) helped clean bee cocoons. In exchange for helping, folks were offered cocoons to take home for next spring’s release. We will be selling cleaned cocoons at our Bare, Root Trees, Shrubs & Perennial sale in April 2023!
Did you Notice…..
We were mentioned in an article from The Columbian-Holidays in the Couve special addition to the paper. Entitled Gardening for Newcomers in Clark County by Master Gardeners Joann Roth and Cindy Combs, we were noted as one of the organizations that has bare root plant sales. Our website was also listed as a resource for places to get more information.
As expected at this time of year, visible progress in the Flying Flowers Garden expansion is a bit slower but changes are evident since last month
Bulletin Board
A harbinger of the season soon to come–see the latest display on the shed in the center of the gardens on your next visit to the gardens and/or see attached pic. Thanks Rosemarie!
Tours/Visitors
In November and again on Dec. 2nd, we had 2nd grade students come through the gardens on a field trip looking for evidence of insects with chaperones led by CASEE students.
Tours/Visitors-Follow Up
In the August 2022 newsletter we mentioned that we had a volunteer (Kim and friend) from Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas, conduct a survey of bees in our gardens. Here are the results (which I just received) and additional information provided by Kim:
We sampled (and released!) the following species of bumble bees at your gardens in 2022.
Bombus flavifrons (yellow-headed bumble bee) – 4 bees
Bombus vosnesenskii (yellow-faced bumble bee) – 2 bees
Bombus mixtus (fuzzy-horned bumble bee) – 1 bee
Mystery bee – Bombus vosnesenskii or caliginosus – 1 bee
There were 4 females and 4 males collected in the time allowed (45 person minutes).
Here are links to more information about each species. Please note, while some species are considered “common” broadly, populations in a given area may be stable, growing, or in decline. For example, the mystery bee we sampled at your garden might be Bombus caliginosus, which is designated as “likely in decline,” but also locally “common.”
https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/app/#/species/profile/flavifrons
https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/app/#/species/profile/mixtus
https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/app/#/species/profile/caliginosus
https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/app/#/species/profile/vosnesenskii
Sharing……
For those new members or just as a reminder….
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/
We have a limited amount of hard copy booklets that would make a great gift idea–contact me for more information.
Support through Shopping
Tis’ the holiday season and whether you shop online or in person, a painless way to help support us year round is through your shopping at Fred Meyer and Amazon–it would be much appreciated!
Here’s how:
You must already have a Fred Meyer Rewards Card. You can choose NatureScaping as your charity and every time you use your rewards card it will benefit us. Go to the link and enter our name or number CC402 and click “enroll”. https://www.fredmeyer.com/topic/community-rewards-4
You must already be signed up for Amazon Smile (it must be AmazonSmile particularly) use our unique link and your eligible online purchases will contribute to a donation to NatureScaping. http://smile.amazon.com/ch/93- 1166487
Do you have someone in your life that would enjoy a gift membership to NatureScaping? Now that we can gather again, think how fun it would be to share classes and other events with friends/family! On our website you will find a form to print and send in to our PO Box OR transact a gift membership online. Membership/Renewals.
If you’d like to make an end of year donation, fabulous!!
Comments…
From Business Google
Andrey gave a 5 star review: “Very clean and beautiful place to go for a walk”.
David & Rhonda, first time visitors left a comment card (and donation) noting: “Amazing variety”.
Nature Related Quote of the Month
From Paul Theroux: “Winter is a season of recovery and preparation”.
Stay safe, dry, warm and have a happy holiday season!