Sleepy cat natives

I'll give that a try! I have quite a few seeds to experiment with. I also need to commit to using some slug bait through the Winter. They really seem to love the native thistles. Really wish they would target the invasive thistles as tenaciously!

Congrats! I'm just starting my native thistle propagation journey! Trying to get a population of Short Styled Thistle growing in NW Oregon. I didn't expect native thistles to be so fussy! lol!

I am so curious to see what a study including Spanish Lavender would discover. This year I am finding that even my English lavender is covered with a few different species of Bumblebee and some smaller solitary bees in addition to honeybees

I am completely obsessed with natives for pollinators - enough to start a business around native seeds. That said, one of the most busy non-native plants in my yard with native bees here in NW Oregon is Spanish Lavender! All of the pollinator studies I have seen focus on English lavenders..

Salal berries ripening on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean near Oceanside, OR.

Pretty Bumblebee feeding on Coyote Mint

Cascara berries in varying degrees of ripeness.

Little solitary bee feeding on Elegant Tarweed in the early morning sunshine.

Fun pics of native plants in Mid-July for your bloom scrolling enjoyment.
#BloomScrolling #nativeplants #garden #nativegarden #PNW

Juvenile Praying Mantis watching the human water plants

After moving this little juvenile Mantis out of a landscape debris bag and on to a Black Hawthorn leaf it sat and watched me water plants.
#wildlife #nature #PDX #garden #nativeplants

Salal is gorgeous year around. Starting in mid-late spring it's adorned with beautiful little pink-white bell shaped flowers.

Salal makes a great shady hedge and is a great addition to hedgerows

Salal continues to flowers even while adorned with ripe berries.

Salal is evergreen making it a wonderful garden addition for Winter interest!

New Stock! Salal seeds are now available from Sleepy Cat Natives! Salal is very challenging to grow from cuttings, but propagates easily from seed!
#nativeplants #nativegarden #nativefood #wildlife #garden

www.etsy.com/listing/4337...

Twinberry honeysuckle's showy flowers and ripening berries glowing in the sunlight! This beauty is very versatile tolerating both seasonal flooding and drought. Once established it will happily grow along a stream, under a tree, or along a pasture fenceline!

A closer view of Twinberry's flowers and forming berries. This lovely native shrub makes a wonderful dense privacy hedge even after it's leaves drop in the summer!

Beautiful Twinberry Honeysuckle along a gravel road in Beverly Beach, Oregon. A great shrub for coastal gardens as well as more inland gardens West of the Cascades!

A closeup of the very showy berries Twinberry Honeysuckle produces! The berries are beloved of Songbirds and are edible by humans (though bitter).

Just added to Sleepy Cat Natives: Twinberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata)! This is one of the best summer flowering hummingbird plants for the West Coast following on the heels of Red Flowering Currant's show.
#nativeplants #nativegarden #PNW #garden #hummingbird
www.etsy.com/listing/4335...

Look closely enough you'll see these flowers crawling with bees and surrounded by busy little bees en route to the next nectar hit!

Those hungry bees!

Gimme that nectar!

Gorgeous little bumble resting on a Goldenrod plume early in the morning.

Goldenrod is in full flower in a least 10 patches in our front yard and they are all covered in bees! Everyone is moving around so fast it is hard to catch them in photo, but here are a few!
#pollinator #nativeplant #nativegarden #garden #gardensky #BloomScrolling #oregon #PNW

Douglas Spiraea backlit in the golden glow of the setting sun.

The Bumblebees were loving the flowers last night!

Beautiful pollinating fly also partaking!

More Bumble Spiraea love!

Douglas Spiraea is in full bloom right now. Such beautiful puffy flowers!
#nature #nativeplants #pollinators #nativegarden #PNW

Omg, I wish I could send you mine! It is invasive in the States. I'm in Oregon and battling with it trying to take over our pasture along with Bull Thistle and Yorkshire Fog Grass.
I've learned that Ragwort spreads via rhizome when the tops are trimmed creating more plants!

This leaf cutter bee took a tumble after cutting out it's petal prize.

Upright again with prize held tight, the leaf cutter quickly took off to build it's nest

Caught a couple fun photos of a Leaf Cutter Bee after it took a circle cutout of this Farewell to Spring Clarkia!
#nativegarden #garden #pollinator #nativeplant #bee #PNW

Flowering Red Elderberry glowing in the sun.

Red Elderberry flowers and leaves.

Ripe Red Elderberry berries.

Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) seeds are now available! These are the freshly harvested 2025 crop! Summer is the best time to sow Elderberry seeds because they require both a warm and cold moist stratification.
www.etsy.com/listing/4328...
#nativeplants #gardening #gardensky #nativegardening

How an Oregon garden is saving butterflies and creating a wildlife ‘land bridge’ at 5,500 feet Mark Newberger's garden on Mount Ashland features native plant species that support monarch butterflies and other pollinators threatened by habitat loss.

www.oregonlive.com/hg/2025/06/h...

#nativeplants #nature #pollinators #nativegarden #gardening

Adult form of the California Glowworm

Discovered an adult California Glowworm, also called Western Firefly (Ellychnia californica) while planting a Red Elderberry! I had no idea they lived in northwestern Oregon!
#wildlife #nativegarden #nochemicals #nativeplants #nature
#oregon

6 yr old Oceanspray in my garden with it's first year full flower show!

Oceanspray flowers closeup

I had no idea Oceanspray was fragrant as well as gorgeous!
#nativeplants #nativegarden #gardening #fragrantflower

Wildflowers for the win !!!! 🌾🌻🌸🌼🍃

Cute little Bumble on a southwesterly course.

Little Bumble butt view while flying on an easterly course.

Little Bumble now on a northerly course.

And finally, a southeasterly flight for a tasty flower landing

While taking plant photos for a future seed listing I caught this happy little Bumblebee on an intercept flight towards it's flower destination from four different directions. I found it pretty funny and thought I'd share!
#bumblebee #bee #PNW #garden #nativegarden #nationalpollinatorweek #nature

It amazes me that the lawns and pruned shrub balls are more "appealing" than prairies and meadows.

Bummer!! Is there a chance anything might recover from the roots? Or, did they pull everything?

Metallic sweat bee coming in for a landing!

Persius Duskywing feeding from an Oregon Iris

Can you spot the green Anna's Hummingbird camouflaged with the green foliage while feeding from Red Currant flowers?

Beautiful queen Bumblebee feeding on a Nootka Rose flower.

Happy National Pollinator Week! Will be planting a few more red and blue Elderberries in celebration this evening, but until then here are some fun photos of flowers and their pollinating visitors! #nativeplants #NationalPollinatorWeek #PNW #gardening #bees #butterflies #hummingbirds

Buzz buzz, it's #NationalPollinatorMonth! While Refuges are luxury resorts for many species, some critters trek miles to get there, often crossing your backyard! Native plants are like 5-star B&Bs for these travelers, showering benefits for both you & wild friends. video of Fuzzy Horned Bumblebee

Young Lanceleaf Self Heal plant growing under a Howard McMinn Manzanita.

Lanceleaf Self Heal growing under a Nootka Rose with pasture grass.

Lanceleaf Self Heal seedling growing in a pasture despite the Sheep Sorrel on all sides!

Lanceleaf Self Heal seedling plug getting established!

I'm happy to announce that seeds for our West Coast Lanceleaf Self Heal are now available! #nativeplants #gardening #lawnalternative #ecolawn #nativegardening #PNW

www.etsy.com/listing/4319...

Pretty little Fireweed blossom!

So excited to see the Fireweed flowers forming!

Fireweed is starting to put on blossoms!
#nativeplants #PNW #BloomScrolling #nativegardening

A diagram created by Oregon State Extension office, from the following website: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/em-9363-native-plant-picks-bees Globe Gilia, a native plant to Oregon and the west coast, supports a huge diversity of bees!

In fact - you could say this native plant is one of the most popular flowers for native bees!

The following diagram is from @extension.oregonstate.edu

extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/...

Aren't Mares Tail/ Horse Tails native? They're pretty good for the soil as well, adding silica.

There are several organizations promoting conservation. One of our favorites started by Doug Tallamy is Homegrown National Park.


Homegrown National Park encourages everyone to plant natives to support pollinators.
natureonthebrink.org/homegrown-na...

Plant native: comparing biodiversity benefits, ecosystem services provisioning, and plant performance of native and non-native plants in urban horticulture - Urban Ecosystems Plant species used in urban horticulture are frequently non-native despite evidence that urban areas are regular points of introduction, often leading to invasions and negative impacts on biodiversity...

"Native plants provide multiple ecosystem functions in urban greenspaces, supporting urban biodiversity and provisioning ecosystem services than non-native plant species and should be prioritized in urban horticulture activities."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fragrant popcorn flower (Plagiobothrys figuratus) carpets a vernal pond in the east Gorge. The heady fragrance filled the air yesterday. #Nativeplants