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.


September Class
 

Please review the attached flyer for our class at the CASEE Center on Saturday September 20th at 10:00am ~ entitled Composting Methods & Options ~ conducted by Pete DuBois, Clark County Composter Recycler Program

If you are confused about composting or don’t know if it is something you can do, join us to get an overview of some of the many composting methods and options. Which one is right for you? Learn how to turn organic waste into garden gold!  Let’s get organics out of our landfills!

Please let me know via email if you would like to attend this class to ensure proper chair set up and materials–members are always welcome.

  
August Class–Recap

August’s class entitled Plant Bullies to Avoid in Your Landscape covered many plants that can be found (and some still can be purchased) in the area that you may want to re-think for your own landscape. We covered various ways to control and/or how to dispose of those bullies that you may already have and no longer want.


Work Parties
Thanks to all 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.

Save the Date

Perennial, Bulb & Seed Swap

Get those excess plants potted up; gather up your overage of seeds and bulbs and bring them to NatureScaping & WSU Extension Clark County Master Gardeners 9th annual Perennial, Bulb and Seed Swap to be held outdoors at the Wildlife Botanical Gardens 11000 NE 149th Street, Brush Prairie, WA. See flyer here.

 

Guidelines:

Perennials & bulbs should be potted or in sturdy plastic bags
Fresh collected seeds in individual envelopes or baggies by variety
Viable store bought seed packets
Label items as well as possible (i.e. botanical or common name, size, sun/shade, wet/dry, bloom time, plant height)
Plants should be well watered and pest free
Please NO invasive plants


Garden Tidings…..

Did you go to the Clark County Fair in August?  If so, did you see our table near the Floral Department in the Exhibit Hall?  Talked to lots of nice folks about gardening, insects, and the environment while getting the word out about the gardens.

 

On a nice evening in August, Erin Harwood conducted a Seed Paper making event for some of our members in the gardens. We made “new” colorful handmade paper out of recycled materials and herb seeds. We even made seed cookies out of the leftover pulp in the seed water.

Tours/talks
The Wildlife Botanical Gardens were included in the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s Clark County Demonstration Gardens Mini-Tour on Saturday, August 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A few NS members (who are also Master Gardeners)  greeted 15 HPSO members. See pic. Six Garden Coordinators were also in their gardens to answer questions and show landscape approaches including lawn alternatives, planting of drought-tolerant, native, and non-native plants that support wildlife, a rain garden, water features and other demonstrations.

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:
**From James–5 star review and comment: “I love the wide variety of flowers planted here in different garden habitats. They’re all connected with winding pathways. There’s lots of information about bees, butterflies, composting & other environmental topics. It’s next to the Battle Ground School District’s CASEE Center. I was there for “Art in the Garden”, a special, annual summer event.”
 
**Alan–5 stars
 
**Crystal–5 stars & Comment: “This is one of our favorite places to visit. We love the peacefulness here. The bunnies at dusk, the periodic owls, the bullfrogs and some turtles all make this place special. The flowers are beautiful as is the landscaping and ponds.
 
**Kisha–4 stars & comment: “It was a lovely place to visit, but it was a very hot couple of days, so the flowers weren’t happy, but go after it’s rained I bet it’s gorgeous!”
 
**From Ruopei–5 stars, pics & comment: “This is my favorite place to go after dinner. Sitting there to enjoy the flowers, birds and trees. It is like a paradise.”

Nature Related Quote of the Month
From Rose Kennedy: Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?

A quiet moment in the gardens the other day, it was just me and a few winged friends enjoying their snack.
 
Enjoy!!
Marlene Dellsy
NatureScaping Admin,