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 (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!
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.

May Class
Please review the flyer for our class at the CASEE Center on Saturday May 17th at 10:00am ~ entitled Boost Biodiversity in Your Garden with Insect-Friendly Habitat ~ conducted by Amy Campion, Co-author of Gardening in the Pacific Northwest: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide

Amy‘s Bio:Amy Campion grew up in Minnesota, but she became a gardener in the Cincinnati area, where she worked at a wholesale nursery for 16 years. In 2013, she and her husband moved to Portland, Oregon. Amy is the co-author of Gardening in the Pacific Northwest: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide, along with Paul Bonine. She currently works at Garden Fever in Northeast Portland. Amy writes and speaks about gardening for insects and other wildlife, and she’s passionate about helping others make their own gardens more biodiverse.

Amy is back with more fantastic photos! She will share 8 simple steps we can take to create more insect-friendly habits in our yards and meet some of the fascinating creatures you will hopefully see in your gardens.
Time and weather permitting we may go out into the garden for a bug walk after the classroom portion.
Please let me know if you would like to attend this class to
ensure proper chair set up and materials–members are
always welcome.
Work Parties
Lots to do in the gardens now. Great time to volunteer!
On work days 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 and share the camaraderie!

Bare Root Trees, Shrubs and Perennial Sale

Raffle winner at our annual plant 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 was cooperative, a big plus! The sale was a  success, most perennials and potted plants were sold by the end of the weekend and lots of bees sold. 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. See plant sale pic.

We had a happy Raffle winner family–Amanda (mom), sisters Vidalia and Ruby (the winner). They were already dividing up the goodies as they looked into the basket. See pic (Ruby is on the left). 
Garden Tidings…..
An Oregon White Oak was recently donated and planted in the back area of the Homestead Garden. The donation was organized by Brenda Calvert, owner of Half Moon Farm and member of Clark County Beekeepers Association (CCBKA) as a memorial to the wife of one of their members (Eliot) who passed away last year from MS after 35 years of marriage. Eliot was very pleased to have this tree planted in memoriam and helped to plant it with Rich, Homestead Garden Coordinator. See pic (Eliot on the right).
Shout out to one of our Native Garden Co-Coordinators, Chelsey, who also happens to be a teacher at CASEE. She was a recipient of the March Employee Recognition Award given by the Battle Ground Public Schools to staff members who “embody the district’s values and commitment to student learning”.

Did you Notice….

We were mentioned in an article on April 12th in The Columbian, Spring in your step: These five gardens will give you petal power by Monika Spykerman. We were one of the gardens mentioned.

Bulletin Board

Next time you visit the gardens, you’ll see the latest artful display on the shed in the center of the gardens. Thanks Rosemarie! 

 

Tours/Talks

It’s that time of year when we start getting inquiries from folks wanting to have our gardens as a backdrop for events and visits. Here are a few examples:

  • We had preschoolers come visit the gardens on April 10th in two groups. Our Mason Bee Program deputy and Apprentice, Nigel, happened to be there. His comments: “I was there for the morning groups. I was able to offer them a basic introduction to mason bees, and they were excited to learn about them. They were quite amazed when I put my hand in front of the mason bee shelter and the insects flew all around and on my hand! It was lots of fun. The garden air was full of excited little voices.
  • Another group of preschoolers came through on May 1st with Julie, our “resident tour guide” conducting the session. She said (edited): “We explored through all the gardens, up one side and down the other. We saw lots of bumblebees, smelled some flowers, listened to bird calls on my Merlin App and touched both soft and prickly plants. When I asked the kids at the end, “what was your favorite part”? One little girl exclaimed, “everything”. The ultimate compliment. I always enjoy these tours, kids are such a delight.  The leader of the preschool commented: “It was really lovely; Julie was so wonderful.”
Sharing……
Flyers
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:
**Larry–5 stars
**Paul–5 stars & comment: This was our first time here. We were having our newest additions to our family, a long for Family Pictures from a photographer! The numerous places to get good photos were Excellent and such beautiful care was taken at this wonderful Relaxing place! We had our 3 grandkids that are all 4 and under, and they were all entertained! I would like to go back with my wife and just enjoy Together without any type of age day that Had to be done! Very Beautifully kept place.
**Pamela–5 stars, pics & comments: What a treasure, NatureScaping of SW Washington is, also called Wildlife Botanical Gardens! Beautiful themed planting areas, lush forest, natural lake habitat….a feast for the eyes and a wonderful place to soak in the beauty of God’s creation!
**Rebecca–5 stars & comment: Beautiful, peaceful, enchanting garden.
From a Geocacher:
** Katann23–“Super fun! Found the cache before we found all the clues. So excited to discover these gardens. I live very close and didn’t know this was here! Thank you.”
(Note: Does everyone know about the geocaching at the gardens? Find out more.)
Nature Related Quote of the Month, from Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: “How inscrutable and incomprehensible are the hidden works of Nature!”