If we run out of a plant you want to buy, try one of the following nurseries. It’s late in their season but they may still have what you want. These nurseries usually grow plants from seeds collected in our region. That’s ideal because those plants are suited to our climate and soils. There may be other nurseries that also carry native plants grown from local seeds. Note that these nurseries may not ship plants to you.
- BFI Native Seeds in Warden, WA http://www.bfinativeseeds.com/
- Derby Canyon Natives in Peshastin, WA https://derbycanyonnatives.com/
- Humble Roots Nursery in Mosier, OR https://www.humblerootsnursery.com/
- Tapteal Native Plants in West Richland, WA https://www.taptealnativeplants.com/
- Desert Jewels Nursery in Spokane, WA https://www.desertjewelsnursery.com/
Plants bought for the CBWNPS plant sale are almost all grown from seeds of plants growing in eastern Washington or eastern Oregon. We want to make sure plants are adapted to climate and soil conditions found here. We also strive to prevent introduction of plant strains that are not part of the local gene pool. To provide gardeners with greater variety, a number of plants are chosen that grow in areas near streams, or at higher elevations or that receive more rain and snow than we do here. So you may have to provide additional water during the growing season for plants that don’t normally grow near the Tri-Cities.
To determine whether you need to add water to your new native plant in the future, read through the description provided with the plant online and on the plant tag with your plant, or look at the Heritage Garden website for plant resources.
If you need or want to add water either in the winter or during the year, the best way to do that is to put a 6-8” long piece of tubing (pvc pipe, old piece of hose, etc.) in the plant’s hole before starting to back fill. Leave an inch or two of pipe extending above ground and the bottom of the pipe nestled near the plant roots and back fill dirt in around the roots and tube. When you water the plant, do so through the tube to put water down where it will help the plant grow it’s roots deep, below the zone of soil that dries out quickly near the surface. You can pull the tube out after your plant is established, unless you plan to run a drip line to it because it needs more water than we normally get.
Native plants don’t normally need much in the way of fertilizer, and in fact giving a plant too much water or fertilizer can be bad for them because they aren’t adapted to those excesses.
Plants native to eastern Washington do best planted in the fall. In our area, and all of eastern Washington, most of the precipitation comes in the winter so local species are adapted to do as much as they can even when the weather is cool. When you plant natives in the fall, put water in the hole before you put the plant in, let that water drain into the soil, and put more water in the hole as you back fill to wet the soil going back into the hole. Doing these steps gives the plant roots moisture to start slowly moving it’s roots out over the winter and early spring and any rain or snow we get gives it an extra boost. If it’s a normal winter and not a really dry one, you may not have to water your new plant at all next year.
