🌿Natives that survived my zone 8b yard (and where exactly)

Four years of trial and error in Portland. Each entry says the spot it lived in, because the spot is the whole game.

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Dry shade under the cedar, zero summer water. The February flowers feed the Anna's hummingbirds.

Red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

East side of the fence, morning sun. Hummingbirds found it before I finished planting.

Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

The hot dry strip by the driveway where three other groundcovers died.

Common camas (Camassia quamash)

The soggy corner that floods every winter. It wants exactly that (learned the hard way, two bulbs rotted in the raised bed first).

Douglas aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum)

Full sun, spreads more than the tag admits. Last thing blooming in October and the bees mob it.

Sword fern

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Slow for two years, then suddenly everywhere. Deep shade, no water.

Western columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana)

Warning: it suckers. Give it the back fence, not the border.

Mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii)

Sun by the shed. Smells better than anything I have ever paid for at a nursery.

Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)

Vine maple (Acer circinatum)

Part shade on the north side. The one plant guests always ask about.

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