Native plants

[bobm]

Since we moved to the PNW and purchased a bank owned house which had all trees, shrubs, and other plants besides the weeds being dead and knowing next to nothing about what plants and trees grow the best and with fewest problems in this area, I consulted the Washington State University Vancouver, Wa. master gardeners , and their horticulture professor for advice. They gave me lots of literature, and several master gardeners came over to see my lot and gave me more specific advice that I followed to a "T". I purchased many plants and trees, from their annual sales as well as the annual sale of Friends of the Washington Forest Service Sale. In each case with the native plants and trees, I had the worst results possible... devestated with insect pests, virus, death, 12 inch tall ( now 6 and 8' tall ) young Red Osier Dogwoods that have since brocken off by 1/4 3 times and up to 1/2 twice from the winds in just over 2 1/2 years and now, just yesterday, one of the two that I purchased, blew down in a 20 mph wind and is uprooted. All of the non native / grafted trees and shrubs that I purchased from nurseries are growing just fine and without issues that the native trees / shrubs/ plants seem to be aflicted with. Evidenced by the Clark County Tour of Gardens selecting my garden twice now. Any thoughts ?

 

[so lucky]

One thing I can think of is maybe the land was back filled with really poor subsoil, and it didn't get amended enough by the time you got it. Native plants do well in forest humus, or what ever they grow in natively. I know you have done a lot in the years you have had it, but maybe it had a long way to go to be able to support native growth.

 

[thistlebloom]

Many Western natives do better when they aren't fertilized.
The amount of growth you got from the Red Osiers in a short time indicates that the soil may have been on the rich side.
The best maintenance for RO is to prune out one third of the mature canes every year. That will keep the size in check. You will also benefit from fresh canes coming in that have the most brilliant reds.
As to the wind blowing them over, the roots must have not been able to go deep. Maybe you have a hardpan layer? Too frequent light waterings will also not encourage deep rooting.

I care for dozens of RO dogwoods for clients and have never had an issue with disease or tipping.

 

[bobm]

The soils here are mostly a sandy loam and as far as I can tell from the former owners' huge dogs digging half way to China and that the ground drains very well from rain as no puddles stay for more than an 1/2 hour after a heavy downpour. I haven't found any evidence of a hardpan. I can dig the soil the next day and no dirt is left on the shovel. There are several 40' tall Cottonwood trees just over the back fence. There are many mature native trees on maybe 20 acres in a dence forest type growth ( oaks, evergreens, cotonwood, birch, oregon grape, etc.) just on the other side of the road behind us. Many of the trees have blown down due to wind , old age or ? I consulted with the professor that is in charge of the master gardenser porgram and had several master gardeners over and followed their advise. I have now pulled most of the native plants as they were not very healthy at all and/ or dieing from being so infested with pests that the recomended treatments were not helping and were very labor intensive. The 3 Red Osiers are the tree form purchased from the Forest Service that rapidly grow to 8-12 feet tall and their branches are quite red the first year , the following year they turn a yellowish color.Very pretty small trees. However, since they grow so rapidly , they are very brittle and they have brocken off from 1/4 to 1/2 several times already. The one that blew down I may have to remove as it just does not want to stand from a light wind even when I cross tied it up. I replaced them with non native and / grafted on other rootstock trees that have nowhere near any of the issues that the natives have.

 

[ducks4you]

The first thing that came to me was:
1) where did you get the native plants?
2) where did you buy the non-native plants?
It doesn't make any sense that native plants wouldn't do well, but haven't we ALL bought clearance plants that were compromised and they slowly got sick and died?
Maybe the non native ones were from a nursery that sells good product.
The Forest "Circus" isn't necessarily known to be full of botanical geniuses. The native plants that have moved in on my property flourish and I didn't even plant the seeds, like blue columbines that are spreading, and I sometimes have to relocate them to thin them out. Local nurseries take very good care of their plants and guarantee them, sometimes, so you return dead, and get a new one.

 

[bobm]

I purchase the natives from the Washinton State University Extention Master Gardener Annual Sale, and the Forest Service Annual Sale. The non natives mostly from mom and pop local nurseries, a grafted with 3 types of cherries from Costco. See my above post where I mentioned that there is about 20 +/- acre wood lot that is densly packed with many varieties of native trees. Many are blown over due to wind, old age, desease or ? Therefore , I am not surprised as to the fate of my native trees.