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.
We gained many new members in April–the plant sale was a major incentive–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!
May Class
Saturday May 18th at 10:00am ~ entitled Let’s Talk About Weeds ~ conducted by Pamela Moody, Master Gardener, NS Board Member, Hummingbird Garden Coordinator
Join us to talk about what can be the bane of many a gardener’s existence. There may be a side to some of them that you may not know or consider. We’ll also touch on the different classifications of noxious weeds per Washington State.
Note: Bring in any “weeds” you’d like help with identifying–but recently pulled “fresh” weeds will be easier to ID than dried out ones.
Saturday Morning Work Parties
Get your hands dirty and volunteer at the gardens! Our Saturday morning work parties (SMWP) are well underway 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
It was nice seeing so many of our members (and others) last weekend as volunteers and/or shoppers! Thanks to everyone who helped put this together–it took lots of time, organization, planning and just hard physical work!
The weather wasn’t great but could have been worse (and was much worse during the following days) but that doesn’t stop Pacific Northwesterners! The sale was a big success, most perennials and potted plants were sold by the end of the weekend and lots of bees sold. I’m happy to say that all trees remaining after the sale were re-homed!!
CASEE who opened their greenhouse selling natives also did very well. And the gals at Garden Delights Herb Farm also had a good sale day.
We had a happy Raffle winner couple.
P.S. All of the remaining Mason Bees were released into the gardens after the sale.
Art in the Garden
Our next big event will be Art in the Garden on Sunday July 14th. This is the event where various artists will be displaying and selling their creations strategically located among the gardens and the gravel area behind the gardens in our Expansion Area–the participation popularity has grown and so have the gardens! All artist’s applications are in and the committee will be meeting soon to make space selections for the artist’s placements. Stay tuned….
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:
*From Business Google: (some quite extensive)
James: 5 star review & comment:
I would highly recommend this place. It offers sprawling acreage with so many distinct aspects. From wetlands and creeks to pristine maintained botanicals, this place has it all. I love that this is a hidden gem. We rarely come across others and it is quite peaceful.
Stephanie: 5 star review & comment:
I love this place! So many beautiful unique garden spaces, a small orchard, walking trails, and a beautiful wooded area. Quiet and relaxing.
Mandy–5 star review & comment:
Very cute little garden to walk through! A few different sections to check out. If you go out through the other side and keep going, there is a beautiful wooded area with trails to walk through. Always free to enter!
Adam: 5 stars & comment:
My wife and I walk here all the time. It’s basically our go-to place for fresh air and some exercise. With so much development going just south of here there are fewer and fewer green spaces to visit and have a place to play, walk, learn, and take in beautiful aesthetics—unless you want to drive 30-45 minutes, pay for parking if you can find it, etc.
That these gardens are community education and involve youth and our school system (in the alternative school at the same location), you cant even put a price on how valuable this free resource is.
Visit, learn, enjoy, promote it, and preserve it. This is such a valuable resource for our community!
Amenities:
Beautiful sustainable gardens with themes and education about what grows there, maintained forest trails (wood chips, not mud), gravel trails around 2 lakes, amphitheater, forest/preservation/gardening education.
Next door at the CASEE Center: Old Growth Forest trail, Riparian Restoration Project, educational farms, and other nature projects.
Down the road is a dog park with a Port-a-Potty (and the Groth Family Nature Preserve Forest trails behind that).
Nature Related Quote of the Month
In light of the recent plant sale….
From Emily Carr: Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises.