Planting Season!
Planting 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.
Share this:
Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.