April is Native Plant Appreciation month. It’s time to hug a cedar, thank a sword fern, praise a pollinator, and celebrate camas. The Washington Native Plant Society website has further information.

Kitsap Community Foundation’s Great Give 24 hour online giving event takes place on April 20. Buck Lake Native Plant Garden will participate again this year along with other local nonprofits. Donations are increased by approximately 10% from a bonus pool of money funded by the foundation’s sponsors. In addition, all donations received by BLNPG this year will be matched up to $500. The Great Give is an ideal way to learn about and support local nonprofits.Learn the details at https://kitsapgreatgive.org/about.

You find BLNPG’s wax myrtle (Myrica californica) shrubs at the south entrance to the garden. One is directly behind the sign in the photo below. Evergreen wax myrtle makes an ideal hedge plant and dune stabilizer. This dense bushy shrub grows to 15 feet but is easily controlled by pruning. It grows well in full sun to partial shade and is moderately drought tolerant after it’s established.

Look very closely in April to May for the peculiar white minimal flowers, described in one of my sources as little more than bumps. Waxy purple fruits follow in fall. Cedar waxwings, quail, other birds, and small mammals eat the fruit. Crush one of the shiny dark green leaves to enjoy the aroma and you may notice a hint of wax myrtle’s relatives allspice and cloves.

We start working in the garden again 9:00 am to noon on April 5. We gather the first and third Mondays of the month through October. Bring your gardening tools and enjoy the fresh air.

Many in Hansville (and far beyond) will miss Patrick Leuner’s infectious laugh and special sense of humor. The volunteers at the native plant garden are lucky to have had Patrick as the garden co-designer, ringleader, and gracious host (with wife Betsy) for many of our elegant and jolly recognition dinners. Patrick gave much to our community and was one of the people instrumental to the creation of Norwegian Point Park among other things.

Look for the new Eddie’s White Wonder Dogwood dedicated to our dear friend. This dogwood, an anthracnose resistant hybrid, is a cross between the native Western Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii, and the Eastern North American species, Cornus florida. The gleaming white flowers open in early spring.

Patrick’s memorial celebration, originally set for late April, has been postponed until the weather is warmer.

As summer wanes and we resume our fall routines please consider joining one of the work parties at the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden Monday mornings from 9 to noon on

• September 2,
• September 16,
• October 7, and
• October 21.

Bring your gloves and favorite hand tools. We take a break around 10 for treats, coffee and water, and a quick talk by local expert Mary Booth highlighting the native plants she’s included in her bouquet. Other advantages of helping in the garden include gaining familiarity with the plants and weeds, lively conversations, and (sometimes) free plants when we divide or remove plants we have in abundance. If you can pull a weed, we want to get to know you better.

Contact us to visit the garden with a docent. If you want to visit the garden from the comfort of your own home, see our website.

The swale will help drain the soggy field, located immediately east of the native plant garden, filter pollutants, and increase water infiltration for the existing plants. Thank you to the Suquamish Foundation for the generous grant.

White flowers bloom at the ends of the leaves of two varieties found near the south entrance to the garden. False Solomon’s Seal’s (Maianthemum racemosum) flower is fragrant and the fruit feeds our woodland birds in summer and fall. Star-flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Mianthemum stellata) has smaller starry shaped white flowers. Both are good ground covers in shady gardens.The author has forgotten much of her Latin but noticed “mai” included in the scientific name and sure enough Maianthemum means May blossom.

Native and non-native (let’s call them “introduced”) plants can happily co-exist in your garden. Even those of us who love natives can’t resist those beautiful plants at the nursery, themselves native to such far-away places as China, Australia or South Africa. Not only are they expensive, we buy and plant them with full knowledge that they may require more TLC than their native counterparts. They will likely need amended soil, more water and something to keep those pesky slugs/snails and deer at bay. Often, they prove to be short-lived in our climate. Buy them, plant them near your house, where they are easier to tend, and enjoy their beauty. That said, give your back and your budget a break and start adding native plants into your beds. They blend seamlessly with their more fussy cousins, are adapted to our soils and climate and require less maintenance.

Our native ferns (there are many) co-mingle happily with introduced perennials and shrubs. Add broadleaf stonecrop or Oregon stonecrop (native sedums) to your rockery. In early spring, Pacific Coast iris, with their colorful blooms, can be the star of your garden. The flowers and scent of Western azalea rival those of any introduced azalea cultivar. Try a black twin-berry, flowering current or silk tassel bush as a specimen shrub. Better yet, if you have room, consider planting a hedgerow of mixed natives for privacy and wildlife habitat.

Check out the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden website (bucklakenativeplants.org) for more information on these plants and others, or consider joining our group at one of our work parties (dates also posted on our website) to learn about gardening with natives.