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) 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!
March Class
Saturday March 16th at 10:00am ~ entitled Northwest Native Garden Plants and the Amazing Insects They Attract ~ conducted by Amy Campion, Co-author of Gardening in the Pacific Northwest: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide and Master Melittologist Apprentice.
Join us for an exploration of some of the best natives to plant in your garden and what fascinating insects they support. You’ll see some fantastic photography, worthy of the class alone!!
Amy bio:
Amy Campion has been gardening for 27 years, first in the Cincinnati area, where she worked at a wholesale nursery for 16 years, and now in Northeast Portland, where she’s lived for 10 years. She is the co-author of Gardening in the Pacific Northwest: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide, along with Paul Bonine. Last year, Amy entered the OSU Master Melittologist Apprentice program. She is passionate about gardening for insects and other wildlife and is excited to show you how native plants can help make your own garden more biodiverse. I do also work at Garden Fever in Northeast Portland
February Class-Recap
Our February class entitled Clean, Green and Herbal ~ conducted by Erin Harwood and Eloyce O’Connor, Co-Owners of Garden Delights Herb Farm (www.gardendelightsfarm.com) was a big hit. Using dried herbs we made a chemical free scouring powder and a surface spray. As spring comes around, fresh herbs would work, too.
Student Gardener Coordinator Program
Pam Moody led our first session of this program on March 2nd. This is an educational program that pairs CASEE students with adult volunteer mentors. The aim is to learn together around nature themed subjects and complete related activities in the Wildlife Botanical Gardens.
During the classroom portion we started out by learning a little about each other; talked about natives vs non-natives and did some fun exercises using dichotomous keys.
A scavenger hunt and work in the gardens followed.
The program continues for 3 more Saturdays in March.
Saturday Morning Work Parties
Get your hands dirty and volunteer at the gardens! Our Saturday morning work parties (SMWP) have begun and 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
Bare Root Trees, Shrubs and Perennial Sale
We are having our annual Bare Root Trees, Shrubs & Perennial sale this year at the Wildlife Botanical Gardens located at 11000 NE 149th Street, Brush Prairie on Saturday, April 27th from 9am-4:00pm and Sunday April 28th from 10am to 3pm
Shopping
Members, (up-to-date with their dues and new members) will have early and exclusive access to the sale starting at 9:00am until noon on Saturday, it will be open to the public thereafter until 4:00pm. We will be using SignUpGenius to schedule people in hour increments all day Saturday. Each signup slot on Saturday will allow the attendee up to 4 additional people as needed. A link to sign up for shopping will be forthcoming as the date approaches. Sunday will be open to the public all day with no signups.
NatureScaping is offering bare root trees for $15, bare root shrubs for $7, espalier fruit trees (if applicable) for $20 and potted perennials starting at $1. Potted/bagged & burlapped and special items will be priced as marked. There will also be Mason Bee cocoons and supplies for sale as well as photo cards with beautiful photography for purchase. This year again, Garden Delights will have an array of their herbs and more, for sale. Test your luck at winning a raffle “basket” containing a variety of items. NatureScaping will be accepting credit cards (MC/VISA), cash, and checks.
This fundraiser will be held in collaboration with students from the adjacent CASEE Center who will be selling native landscaping plants from their greenhouse. They will be accepting credit, cash and checks.
Volunteer Opportunity
Our success depends upon our volunteers–please consider helping. This is our big fundraising event of the year and it takes lots of volunteers before and during the sale event!
Sale Volunteers for pre-sale work during the weekday:
Heeler: Place and cover or “heel” the bare root trees into the sale area
Label Writer: Writing latin and common names on labels at home and returning labels promptly to designated person at the Wildlife Botanical Gardens
Label Placers: Attaching finished labels on plants – physical ability needed: manual dexterity, bending over repeatedly
Here is a brief listing/description of some of the various jobs we will need to fill on sale days. As you can infer, some jobs are more physical than others.
Greeter/Check In: Distribute plant lists, guide new customers to the sales area, check for receipts. Check in volunteers at the beginning of shifts.
Field Helper: Help with selections and help pull trees for purchase
Holding area: “Check in” and hold plant loads while people continue to shop
Bagger: Dip bare root trees in water, place into bags.
Checker: Write up sales slips for cashiers.
Cashier: Do the math (calculators furnished) and take in checks or cash (no coin change transactions).
Volunteers working a 4 hour shift will receive a complimentary bare root tree, shrub (only those varieties with quantities of 10 or more) or perennial. *More details to follow.
To volunteer we are using SignUpGenius.
If you have any questions please contact Meredith at: volunteers@naturescaping.org
Shed Reorganization
Work continues on getting things “just right” in our sheds. John made adjustments to our tool/shovel holder system and saved much needed space. Lookin’ Good!!
Did you know…..
NatureScaping had a table at the recent Clark Conservation District plant sale pick-up held in the parking lot at CASEE Center. It was a chilly day and we thank Pamela for working our display and answering questions.
Did you Notice
Lots of new hardscaping at gardens. Three scouts from Scout Troop 475 in Brush Prairie Sam Hickel, Kegan DeCarlo, and Joshua Baldwin completed their Eagle badges through their projects in the Wildlife Botanical Gardens. They each led their troop members in completing their project with the support of their parents.
We have a new trellis and paths in the Water Wise Garden
and the addition of benches to the new arbor in the Hummingbird Garden. You’all will have to come take a look!
We also have a new bulletin board up on the shed–thank you Rosemarie!
The mason bee tubes and the first of the mason bee cocoons were set out at the gardens on Sunday. One of the tube holder structures is attached to the front of the shed closest to the main path while another is further back behind our sheds attached to a different shed. Another batch of cocoons will be set out in a few weeks. Don’t worry, we’ll still have plenty for our plant sale so you can have your own! See pic of our new Mason Bee co-deputies setting out the tubes.
Sharing……
Always striving to best share information, our standard flyers in display boxes at the gardens are now on our website. We recently added our Mason Bee information sheet. Find them referenced on the following pages:
Wildlife Botanical Gardens Main Flyer and Black and White MapWildlife Botanical Gardens Overhead Color Map
How to Raise and Manage Orchard Mason Bees.
Once again for our new members…..
For anyone interested….
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 From Business Google:
Greg–gave us a five star review
L P–gave us a 5 star review
Kim (new member) commented: “I soooo love the botanical garden, I have captured many beautiful photos there, I love all the wildlife, especially the hummingbirds…and even when there isn’t as much to capture, it is always so relaxing and zen even just to listen to the birds…so I am glad that I became a member to support my favorite place.”
Nature Related Quote of the Month
From Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
Enjoy!!