Sleepy Cat Natives

River Rock/Drainage: "A dry creek bed using local river rock. Tip: I’ve followed the natural flow of the water in my yard, allowing it to percolate into the soil rather than the storm drain. This protects the local watershed and keeps the garden hydrated." Nursing Logs/Mulch: "Strategic placement of decaying logs among the woodchips. These act as 'slow-release sponges' for moisture and provide essential habitat for the beetles and fungi that drive soil health. This is how we build a forest floor from scratch." Pots Layout: "Native plants in 1-gallon pots laid out according to the Muse blueprint. Note the layering: Tall Oregon Grape for structure, Sword Ferns for the mid-layer, and Kinnikinnick as the evergreen groundcover to suppress future weeds."

River Rock/Drainage: "A dry creek bed using local river rock. Tip: I’ve followed the natural flow of the water in my yard, allowing it to percolate into the soil rather than the storm drain. This protects the local watershed and keeps the garden hydrated." Nursing Logs/Mulch: "Strategic placement of decaying logs among the woodchips. These act as 'slow-release sponges' for moisture and provide essential habitat for the beetles and fungi that drive soil health. This is how we build a forest floor from scratch." Pots Layout: "Native plants in 1-gallon pots laid out according to the Muse blueprint. Note the layering: Tall Oregon Grape for structure, Sword Ferns for the mid-layer, and Kinnikinnick as the evergreen groundcover to suppress future weeds."

River Rock/Drainage: "A dry creek bed using local river rock. Tip: I’ve followed the natural flow of the water in my yard, allowing it to percolate into the soil rather than the storm drain. This protects the local watershed and keeps the garden hydrated." Nursing Logs/Mulch: "Strategic placement of decaying logs among the woodchips. These act as 'slow-release sponges' for moisture and provide essential habitat for the beetles and fungi that drive soil health. This is how we build a forest floor from scratch." Pots Layout: "Native plants in 1-gallon pots laid out according to the Muse blueprint. Note the layering: Tall Oregon Grape for structure, Sword Ferns for the mid-layer, and Kinnikinnick as the evergreen groundcover to suppress future weeds."

River Rock/Drainage: "A dry creek bed using local river rock. Tip: I’ve followed the natural flow of the water in my yard, allowing it to percolate into the soil rather than the storm drain. This protects the local watershed and keeps the garden hydrated." Nursing Logs/Mulch: "Strategic placement of decaying logs among the woodchips. These act as 'slow-release sponges' for moisture and provide essential habitat for the beetles and fungi that drive soil health. This is how we build a forest floor from scratch." Pots Layout: "Native plants in 1-gallon pots laid out according to the Muse blueprint. Note the layering: Tall Oregon Grape for structure, Sword Ferns for the mid-layer, and Kinnikinnick as the evergreen groundcover to suppress future weeds."

March Madness: The 31-Day Restoration Challenge Blog is LIVE! 🌿

From digital blueprints to the dirt. I’m currently installing our "Architecture of Life" design: nursing logs, river rock drainage, and surgical planting into 6-month-old sheet mulch. Read here: zurl.co/awazc

#Dontmowgrow #PNWgarden

Mosquito Bucket Challenge - Homegrown National Park Natural mosquito control: The Mosquito Bucket Challenge is a safe, affordable way to control mosquitoes without harming kids, pets, or pollinators.

Instead of spraying for mosquitos this summer, try the Mosquito Murder Bucket!

It's cheaper than paying a company and doesn't kill all of the beneficial insects in the area.

#garden #gardening

Introduction to Native Plant Landscaping and - PlantNative.org Curious about native plants? Interested in a beautiful, low-maintenance landscape? Concerned about health and water quality? Or did you just stumble on to...

plantnative.org/how_intro.htm

#gardening #nativegardening #landscaping #flowers #wildlife

Scarlet Monkeyflower is a super showy, moisture loving native perennial that is a hummingbird favorite!

Prairie Junegrass is a lovely native clumping grass that's a host plant for Skipper butterflies!

Pacific Aster is a huge draw for pollinators late in the season. Here two Skipper butterflies enjoy the nectar this aster offers.

Pearly Everlasting is a wonderful late season blooming wildflower. These flowers are excellent for bouquets and dried flower arrangements.

Here are a few more perennial native plants that produce seeds without any germination requirements!

#nativeplants #nativegarden #gardening #flowers #westcoast
#plantsky #pnw #bloomscrolling

Yay! These pollinator plant kits are available in Oregon to the Portland, Willamette Valley, and Klamath-Siskiyou areas!

Oregon Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kits | Xerces Society Pollinators play a critical role in Oregon’s ecosystems and food systems, yet many species are facing increasing pressure from habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and climate change. Creating and mainta...

Oregon Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kits xerces.org/pollinator-c...

A pair of hands held together holding hundreds of ladybugs which are crawling on the wrist as well. They are small, a little larger than a fat grain of rice, but short and oblong instead of long like rice. They have a little black heads and are deep red. They cover the fingers, but we can see the pink of the hands and the wrists through them. In the background is a green plant of some kind.

Never 🚫 buy ladybugs. Spread the word! Why?
They're harvested from the wild & populations are in decline. The hunters who sell them destroy habitat.& Shipping ladybugs has spread parasites & disease to other insects.🌱
Who eats FAR more aphids than ladybugs? Green Lacewings (NOT prev post Lace Bug… 🧵

'Kin recognition in non-native plants: a general hypothesis of invasiveness'
DOI: doi.org/10.32942/X2W...

If you're fighting your garden to keep it alive, the architecture is broken. 🛡️🌿

Real ecological design = systems that maintain themselves. Let nature do the heavy lifting.

New post on the "Do Less" philosophy: zurl.co/fEr4F

#EcologicalDesign #NativePlants #DoLessGardening #Dontmowgrow

That's exciting! I'm so happy to have those Coyote Bush seeds getting propagated in Washington gardens!

If your in Seattle & planning to attend the NW Flower and Garden Fest for their last day be sure to swing by booth 2159 to check out Wildscape Muse! She has an amazing online platform to help you replace your lawn and design your native landscape!
#nativegarden #gardening #washington #dontmowgrow

Day 4 at the 𝖭𝖶 𝖥𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋 & 𝖦𝖺𝗋𝖽𝖾𝗇 𝖥𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗅 and the energy is electric, the real magic is happening at 𝖡𝗈𝗈𝗍𝗁 𝟤𝟣𝟧𝟫. Come and see us, ask for some free 'Coyote Bush' or 'Goldenrod' seeds @sleepycatnatives.bsky.social dropped at our booth!


#Dontmowgrow #NWFGS

Yay! Glad to hear the NW Flower and Garden Fest is going well!!
I'm so glad to get native seeds into the hands of gardeners!! 😄

Good luck! It seems to start easily from seed, and once it gets started in the ground it's pretty tenacious! 😃

Wildlife gardens don't have to look wild! 🌿
✨ The secret? "Cues to care", mowed edges, structured layering, intentional design. When your yard looks beautiful AND supports life, neighbors start asking questions. That's how we build connected corridors.

#NativePlants #EcologicalDesign Dontmowgrow

Douglas Aster is a superb pollinator plant. An Oregon State University study looking at native plants and native pollinators found that Douglas Aster attracted the highest diversity of visiting bee species, as well as, the highest abundance of visiting bees compared to the other native flowers in the study.

Goldenrod is another superb pollinator plant. The lovely yellow flowers attract all manner of bees, but is particularly attractive to native wasps. Native wasps are not aggressive to people, and are powerful allies in the garden as they feed on garden pests!

Blanket Flowers is a wonderful late blooming, highly drought tolerant, inland perennial. This lovely flower often continues to bloom through the first couple of late Fall - early Winter hard frosts before finally going dormant.

Seaside Daisy is an invaluable low growing ground cover for the maritime West Coast! In it's native range it's evergreen and when happy will spread out to ~2' wide and will be covered in flowers from May- August. I've had my plants continue to produce flowers into October!

Here are some perennial native plants that have seeds without any germination requirements!

#nativeseeds #nativeplants #nativegarden #gardening #flowers
#pnw #oregon #westcoast #wildlifegardening #pollinators

Lance-leaf Self Heal only needs a short 20-30 day stratification to germinate. This lovely plant is a wonderful groundcover and works well incorporated into a native lawn replacement. It can take mowing and light-medium foot traffic.

Coyote Bush has no germination requirements, though a little (7-10 days) cold moist stratification may improve germination rates. This is a fantastic wildlife shrub. It provides late season food for all sorts of pollinators, and song birds love it for food (insects), roosting, and nesting! It's evergreen and makes a fantastic garden specimen and hedge plant!

Sea Thrift is another adorable little ground cover requiring only 30 days of cold moist stratification. It is evergreen and is loved by tiny carpenter bees when in bloom!

While the cheery Oregon Sunshine generally requires 30-60 days of cold moist stratification, I often find it germinates on the shorter end of that range. They are evergreen and also make a lovely ground cover.

If you haven't started your native seed sowing project yet, don't despair! Many species need only a brief period of moist stratification, and yet others don't require any special treatments! Here are some great examples!

#nativeplants #nativegarden #alwaysbesowing #gardening #flowers #pnw #seeds

No V-day flower show is complete without the lovely Western Bleeding Heart!

Nodding Onions are such lovely Spring Wildflowers! They are so easy to start from seed, wildlife tends to avoid them, and their an edible true onion!

Meadow Checkermallow is a very special hollyhock like wildflower endemic to the Willamette Valley. Not only is it gorgeous and tough, it's also a native vegetable! The leaves are highly nutritious and can be used like spinach in salads or soups etc.

Salal is such a lovely evergreen shrub and ground cover. It has visual interest year around, though it is most showy when in bloom or loaded with berries.

Here's a little native flower show for your Valentine's Day pleasure!

#nativeplants #nativegarden #flowers #garden #pnw
#bloomscrolling #sharingcheer

📣 NEW! I’ve just released the BIGGEST and perhaps most creative project I’ve ever worked on!

“Searching for Birds” searchingforbirds.visualcinnamon.com 🐤

A project, an article, an exploration that dives into the data that connects humans with birds, by looking at how we search for birds.

Baby tree frogs are already hopping around! Found this little guy hunting in the grass near a Salal and Sea Thrift bed I was weeding! If you look past the grass you can also see Elegant Tarweed seedlings!

First flower of the season for my native White Flowering Currant! This is a naturally occurring White version of our native Red Flowering Currant. It tends to flower a few weeks earlier than it's red flowering neighbor, but still this is early!

My native seeds are pretty confused at the moment. These were all started in December, with the hope of a good stratification. Many haven't received enough cold even still. I was surprised to discover the annual Wild Sunflower seeds are mostly germinated already! They don't germinate until the soil temps are consistently 50 F!

Spring definitely feels like it is coming too soon! The abnormally warm weather is confusing plants, and seeds alike! If your planning to sow native seeds do it soon to ensure a long enough stratification period!

#nativegarden #nativeplants #earlyspring #gardening #pnw

Remember all, while honeybees are cute and awesome, they are not the best pollinators nor the only ones. Native bees to wherever you live will always be more important than a domesticated honey bee.

Save the native bees!

Yay! Congrats!

Farewell to Spring glowing in the afternoon sunshine! This lovely annual is such an easy going plant. Start the seeds early and you'll never have to water and you'll have a perpetual flower show for years! (Remember to leave the stocks to let them reseed!)

The adorable pink puff ball flowers of Seablush on a warm Spring day. This little wildflower is another native annual that loves seasonally wet areas and is often seen growing with Camas in the Willamette Valley. It too will happily self sow when happy for years of future flowers!

Another lovely native pink pompom flower! This one is Sea Thrift or Sea Pink. It's a very cute little evergreen perennial ground cover with grass like leaves. This one is loved by tiny carpenter bees that swarm the flowers on warm summer days.

A lovely queen Bumblebee feeding from a Nootka flower. This is a tough wild rose! This rose was planted in full sun 7 years ago and has grown happily without supplemental water for all but 2 months of that time. And, those flowers! They have a lovely papery appearance and smell like an English rose garden!

Let's go pink in celebration of February!

#nativeplants #nativegarden #flowers #gardening #pnw #oregon #pinkflowers #nativeseed #vday

I would really love to see something like this in the PNW!!

Plan It Native Landscapes Conference Learn from speakers who understand your challenges and provide expert advice to help you advance. Whatever your experience with native plants, you will find resources to grow your knowledge.

PLAN IT NATIVE 2026
FEBRUARY 10-11, 2026
Two full days to learn about native plants, designing and managing native plant gardens, and the flora/fauna connections we all appreciate.
On the campus of the Kauffman Conference Center
And the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center
planitnative.org

The goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), aka the Pennsylvania leatherwing

The goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), aka the Pennsylvania leatherwing, is harmless to humans and plants; it's a notable pollinator of goldenrod, asters, milkweed, and other native plants. #backyardnature #entomology

A single chickadee pair needs 6,000-9,000 caterpillars to raise their chicks. 🐛🐦

Your native oaks and willows? They're not just plants, they're a protein factory for the birds doing your pest control.

Plant the food web, not just the view.

#ArchitectureOfLife #NativePlants #Dontmowgrow

A cuckoo wasp (Chrysis angolensis) feeding from a Coyote Mint flower!

Carpenter bees feeding from a Coyote Mint flower

Gorgeous Bumblebee catching the sun while also feeding from a Coyote Mint flower!

Coyote Mint can grow ~2 ft tall while in bloom. The rest of the year it's roughly 1-1.5 ft tall and up to 2 ft wide. It's beautiful pompom flowers blend well into most flower gardens! It loves full sun, but can tolerate part sun. And, has very low - no need for supplemental water.

Want a native to fill a small space in full sun? Want it to bloom a long time and smell amazing? Consider Coyote Mint! It blooms all summer-fall, smells like a desert mint (yummy!), is evergreen, and is a bee powerhouse!
#nativeplants #bees #nativegardening #flower #gardening
#westcoast #fragrant

#WildscapeMuse #NativePlants #Biodiversity #BuildInPublic #Conservation #Dontmowgrow

The white petals of a male osoberry flower poke out from a red and green bud cluster. The pale yellow anthers are barely visible. The background is full of out of focus, still bare gray twigs from the berry shrubs.

Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis) tentatively blooming, a first sign of spring in the native flora.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleWinter #SeattleParks #RavennaPark #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #NativePlantsInTheCity #PNWFlora #BloomScrolling