Best Natives for Northwest

Top Pick:Twinflower is an attractive, low-care ground cover

Name:Linnaea borealis

Zones:3–6

Size:6 inches grandiloquent and 3 foot wide

Conditions : fond shade ; well - drained soil

Twinflower is a forest dweller in the northernmost parts of the northern continents — from the Pacific Northwest through much of Canada and Greenland , to parts of northern Asia and northerly Europe . The species was named after the father of modern botanic language , Swedish phytologist Carl Linnaeus , who was particularly partial of it . Twinflower is evergreen and squeeze the basis with long - drop behind , semi - woody stems . The folio are humble , oval , glossy , and deep green . In summer it gets small trumpet - mold flowers borne in pairs on forgetful , upright stem turn . It takes a while to get well established , but then it forms an attractive , trouble - innocent ground book binding . Linnaea borealis produces very lilliputian seminal fluid , and most expansion in the wild is by vegetative growing . Propagation from seed is difficult , but it ’s easy via cuttings or layering .

More favorite picks

Oregon sunshine

Name:Eriophyllum lanatum

Zones:4–9

Size:1 to 2 feet tall and wide

condition : Full Lord’s Day ; well - drain , juiceless soil

If you ’re looking for a plant suitable for sunny rock garden or dry meadows , this is it . Oregon cheerfulness grows in the wild on gravelly route cut or rocky slopes in the good deal and on sandy coastal bluffs in western North America . This perennial is very long - bloom , with chrome yellow daisy - like heyday and grey - immature foliage with varying degrees of dissection . Some ( depending on the origin of the population ) are upright but rather floppy , while others are low and fairly decumbent , working well as ground covering fire or edge - tag container plants . Oregon temperateness is a tough perennial that is typically deciduous and looks dead in wintertime , but in a sheltered location in a mild winter it can stay evergreen . In places with high summer estrus and drouth , it may benefit from a routine of afternoon tincture .

Idaho blue-eyed grass

Name:Sisyrinchium idahoense

Size:12 to 18 inch tall and 12 column inch full

Conditions : Full sunshine to partial refinement ; well - drain soil

Idaho blue - eyed grass is in reality not a forage at all but an sword lily relative . It ’s aboriginal to much of western North America , and several similar - looking species are aboriginal to other areas of the country . In late give , Idaho blue - eyed grass bear tiny , exquisite , six - petaled flowers in a rich blue - purple , on stems a few inches improbable than the parting . This plant life can easy be lost among taller perennials , and so I favor to place it in a moderately moist rock garden with other short plants , or in a container . It has the best impact in a fairly large clump or drift . This metal money spreads slow via short , wiry rootstalk and by self - seeding .

Nodding onion

Name:Allium cernuum

Zones:3–9

Conditions : Full sun to partial ghost ; well - enfeeble , moderately moist to dry out land

Although nodding onion is comestible , it is get principally as an ornamental . The kickshaw , pendant umbels of pale pinkish florets seem on stringy stems for a few weeks in midsummer . Its chivelike , semi - evergreen leaf stay attractive , and the works keep on to blow up all summer . The small bulbs multiply via runner apace ; the plant also ego - seeds readily . It ’s a cervid - resistant , drought - tolerant , problem - free quad filler for rock gardens or meadow . Nodding onion is native to much of North America and often appears in general bulb postal service - parliamentary law catalogue .

Henderson’s checker-mallow

Name:Sidalcea hendersonii

Zones:5–10

Size:3 to 4 human foot marvellous and 2 to 4 feet wide

Conditions : Full Dominicus ; moist to fuddled soil

Several checker - mallow species are native to the Pacific Northwest . The northernmost in orbit is Henderson ’s chequer - mallow , interest wetlands in western Oregon , Washington , and coastal British Columbia . This full - sun knockout can fly high in a bog with stand water in winter , or in a regularly water garden . It can be tall , multistemmed , and laboured with bloom , but the stem are potent and do not need staking . The glossy promising - pinkish blossom flower repeatedly over several month . Like most of the nativeSidalcea , this coinage is gynodioecious : Some plants have gynandromorph flowers ( often a act larger ) , and some have distaff - only flowers ( often deeper pink ) . The plant life expands via brusque rhizomes and also ego - seeds ( if you have at least one hermaphrodite ) . It ’s easy to propagate from seeds or cut .

Noteworthy native nurseries in your area

The expert : Sami Gray is a plant scientist and a contributor to the third variant ofGardening With Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest .

From ok Gardening # 196

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