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Planting Season!
Oct. 17th, 2014 08:29 pmPlanting season has hit the Pacific Northwest, and restoration projects all over the place are getting their shovels dirty. No less is happening in North Beach Park — we have planting parties planned for the next FOUR work parties, October, November, January, and February!
October
The October work party happens Saturday, October 25, from 9 a.m. to noon. Please sign up here. The Friends of North Beach Park will be joined by international students from North Seattle College, volunteering with their I-CARE program.
October features wetland graminoids (grasses) and one forb. These plants will come from 4th Corner Nursery in Bellingham, and are purchased with monies from a stewardship grant from the Central Puget Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society. We also appreciate the support of our fiscal sponsor, Seattle Parks Foundation, for processing the money.
These will be planted in the Headwaters Bowl and Central Valley habitat management units of North Beach Park.
| Scientific Name | Common name | Size | Form | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carex amplifolia | Broad-leaved sedge | br | Gr | 50 |
| Carex stipata | Sawbeak sedge | br | Gr | 100 |
| Deschampsia caespitosa | Tufted hair-grass | br | Gr | 50 |
| Glyceria elata | Tall mannagrass | br | Gr | 100 |
| Juncus ensifolius | Daggerleaf rush | br | Gr | 50 |
| Scirpus microcarpus | Panicled bulrush | br | Gr | 100 |
| Veronica americana | American brooklime | br | Fo | 100 |
Although this is 550 plants, they’re all pretty small.
November
The November work party will happen on Saturday, the 22nd. Build up that appetite and enjoy your Thanksgiving feast that little bit more, because you’ve done some good for Seattle parks! Sign up here. Friends of North Beach Park will be joined again by international students from the North Seattle College I-CARE program.
November will see more plants installed in the main body of North Beach Park. These plants are provided by Green Seattle Partnership. There will be one tree, one shrub, and two grasses and two forbs.
| Scientific Name | Common name | Size | Form | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acer macrophyllum | bigleaf maple | 1 gal | Tr | 6 |
| Asarum caudatum | wild ginger | 1 gal | Fo | 20 |
| Oplopanax horridus | Devil’s club | 1 gal | Sh | 10 |
| Petasites frigidus | coltsfoot | 1 gal | Fo | 20 |
| Scirpus acutus | hardstem bulrush | 1 gal | Gr | 8 |
| Scirpus microcarpus | panicled bulrush | 1 gal | Gr | 8 |
For the first three years of restoration, we planted hundreds of conifer trees in North Beach Park. Now we’re going to switch gears for a while: Let the new conifers establish and get well-situated for the next three to five years, and do some replacement of the deciduous canopy.
We skip December, because the 4th Saturday falls between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We hope you have a good holiday.
January
In January, we return to the South Plateau to plant the last of the plants provided by Green Seattle Partnership. The entrance to the South Plateau is at NW 88th St. and 27th Ave. NW. The January work party will happen on Saturday, the 24th. The event is not posted to Cedar yet, but it will have full directions and information. We DO know what we will be planting, though.
| Scientific Name | Common name | Size | Form | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holodiscus discolor | oceanspray | 1 gal | Sh | 11 |
| Lonicera involucrata | twinberry | 1 gal | Sh | 7 |
| Mahonia nervosa | dwarf Oregon grape | 1 gal | Sh | 25 |
| Malus fusca | Pacific crabapple | 1 gal | Tr | 5 |
| Polystichum munitum | sword fern | 1 gal | Fe | 25 |
| Pseudotsuga menziesii | Douglas fir | 1 gal | Tr | 5 |
| Rosa gymnocarpa | bald-hip rose | 1 gal | Sh | 25 |
| Rosa nutkana | Nootka rose | 1 gal | Sh | 25 |
February
This will be our last planting work party for the 2014-2015 planting season. Well, that we’re planning on as we write (four months in advance). Who knows what the future portends?
This work party will feature shrubs and small trees, the second half of the stewardship grant purchase from the Washington Native Plant Society.
| Scientific Name | Common name | Size | Form | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fraxinus latifolia | Oregon ash | 6-12″ br | Tr | 50 |
| Malus fusca | Pacific Crab Apple | 3-6″ br | Tr | 50 |
| Physocarpus capitatus | Pacific ninebark | 6-12″ br | Sh | 50 |
| Salix lucida | Pacific willow | 6-12″ br | Tr | 50 |
| Salix sitchensis | Sitka Willow | 6-12″ br | Tr | 100 |
The February work party will be back in the main body of the park, and will happen on the 28th. As soon as the information gets posted to Cedar, we’ll link to it on Nature Intrudes.
We also plan to do a little experiment: Hold back some of the plants of each species, and keep them in a well-tended nursery for a year or two. The question is: Will the plants that get the extra attention have a better survival rate than the plants installed immediately?
That’s a little over a thousand plants altogether. Most of them are going into wetter areas of the park, which means they should make it through the summer drought fairly well.
Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.
