Native Plants- Eaglemount Farms

Eaglemount Farms is propagating several hundred varieties of plants that are native to the Pacific Northwest. All are beneficial to our local ecosystem and many are medicinal for humans and animals.  Many are of nutritive in nature.  Native plants have been used for food, medicine, housing, clothes, tools, and many other uses for millions of years by the human community.

Starting in 2014 our primary focus will be propagating plants that attract wild bees, pollinators, butterflies and other invertebrates and wild birds. Some of our plants will also be habitat for wild bats. The environment for bees both wild and domestic is being threatened. We want to be part of the effort to save these pollinators.

Pollinator Pathways

In 2001 The Xerces Society and other conservation groups identified several hundred species of bees, pollinators, and other native creatures whose habitat is either threatened or on the verge of extinction.

This invertebrate conservation group has also identified which native plants are being decimated and which should be re-planted in all ecosystems immediately. Staff members of the Xerces Society have been actively training farmers, gardeners, municipalities and others to plant Pollinator Pathways.  These pathways of native plants will bloom from early spring to late fall. They will create habitat and food for pollinators, dragonflies, frogs, salmon, and other wildlife.

 Eaglemount farms is taking part in this effort and have organized our farm fields, forests and gardens in such a way as to support these invaluable native  pollinators, wildlife and native plants. We are actively propagating several hundred species of native plants that will support this project to conserve and protect our native pollinators and invertebrates. In 2014 The Xerces Society and Endangered Species Chocolate awarded Eaglemount Farms a placard to honor our effort to protect pollinators.

 

The following is a partial list of native plants that will be raised on our farm and which will be available to others in the coming years.

 

Early Spring flowering

Indian Plum – Oemleria cerasiformis

Piggy-back plant – Tolmeia menzesii

Golden Currant – Ribes aureum-

Red Currant – Ribes sanguineum

Late Spring Flowering

Big Leaf Maple – Acer macrophyllum

Black Twinberry – Lonicera involucrate

Black-eyed Susans– Rudbeckia hirta

Bleeding Heart, Western – Dicentra Formosa

Blue Bells – Mertensia virginiana

Checker Mallow – meadow checker mallow – Sidalcea campestrus –

Checker Mallow – Cusick’s checker mallow – Sidalcea cusickii –

Checker Mallow – Henderson’s checker Mallow – Sidalcea hendersonii –

Columbine, Western – Aquilega Formosa

False Lilly of the Valley – Maianthemum dilatatum

Fringe cup – Tellima grandiflora

Foam Flower – Tiarella trifoliate

Goatsbeard – Aruncus dioicus

blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium bellum

yellow-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium californica

Hooker’s fairy bells – Prosartes hookeri

Iris – Douglas’ iris – Iris douglasii

Iris – Oregon iris– Iris tenax

Mock Orange – Philadelphus lewisii

Bush monkeyflower  – Mimulus auruncalis

Red monkeyflower – Mimulus cardinalis

Yellow monkeyflower – Mimulus guttatus

Lewis’s Pink monkeyflower – Mimulus lewisia –

Creeping Oregon Grape – Mahonia repens

Oregon Grape, Tall Oregon Grape – Mahonia aquifolium –

Oregon Grape Leather-Leaf – Mahonia nervosa

Wild Hyancinth – hyacinth brodiaea

Hairy Honeysuckle – Lonicera hispidula

Inside-Out flower – Vancouveria hexandra

Orange Honeysuckle – Lonicera ciliosa

Service Berry – Amelanchier alnifolia

False Solomon’s Seal – Maianthemum racemosa

Starry Solomons’ seal – Maianthemum stellata

Vine Maple, Acer circinatum

Early blue violet – Viola adunca –

Yellow stream violet – Viola glabella –

Evergreen violet – Viola sempervirens –

Western Meadowrue – Thalictrum occidentale –

Wild Ginger – Asarum caudatum

Wood Sorrel – Oxalis oregana

Willow

Hooker’s Willow – Salix hookeriana – (late spring blooming in most areas)

Pacific Willow – Salix lasiandra – (late spring blooming in most areas

Scouler’s Willow – Salix scouleriana – (late spring blooming in most areas

Sitka Willow – Salix sitchensis – (late spring blooming in most areas

 

Summer flowering

Alum Root – smooth alum root – Heuchere glabra –

Alum Root – small-flowered alum root – Heuchera micrantha –

Black Cottonwood – Populus trichocarpa

Fireweed – Epilobium angustifolium

Goldenrod – Solidago canadensis

Nookta Rose– Rosa nootkana

Pacific Ninebark – Physocarpus capitatus

Oregon Sunshine – Eriophyllum lanatum

Oregon Fawn Lilly – Erythronium oregonum

Salal – Gaultheria shallon

Spring Queen – Native Figwort – Synthyris reniformis

Douglas’ Spiraea – Spiraea douglasii—

Birch-leaf Spiraea – Spiraea lucida –

Large-Leafed Lupine – Lupinus polyphyllus

Lupine, Artic (Lupinus arcticus)

Lupine, Seashore (Lupinus littoralis)

Lupine, Nookta (Lupinus nootkatensis)

Lupine, Small-flowered (Lupinus polycarpus)

Oceanspray – Holodiscus discolor

Rattlesnake Plantain – Goodyera oblongifolia

Rush – Common Rush – Juncus effuses

Tiger Lilly – Lilium columbianum

Twin Flower – Linnaea borealis

Trillium – Wake Robin – Trillium ovatum

Vanilla leaf – Achlys triphylla

Western yarrow – Achillea millefolium

Wild Berries – Late spring/ Early flowering in most areas

Black Twineberry – Lonicera involucrate

Bunch berry – Cornus canadensis

Evergreen Huckleberry– Vaccinium ovatum

Red Huckleberry – Vaccinium parviflorium

Thimbleberry– Rubus parviflorus

Salmonberry – Rubus spectabilis

Snowberry – Symphoricarpos albus –

Creeping Snowberry – Symphoricarpos mollis

Coast strawberry – Fragaria chiloensis –

Woods strawberry – Fragaria vesca –

Wild strawberry – Fragaria virginiana –

 

 Raising Native Plants in a harmonious environment

The energetics of the healing native plant can be measured by the soil and ecological healthy environment in which it is grown. Soils used in agriculture are for the most part being depleted of local minerals and tilth.  Even organic operations must pay special attention to soil health.  A native forest or savannah is a perfect harmonious habitat for the great native healing plants. The mycelium mat is mostly still in place. All the families of microorganisms are still in place.  The minerals needed for healthy growth and fertility are still and place and benefit human health greatly. Multiple species live under a multi-level story of plants. The volatile oils and nutritive value of the plant is in place. Wildlife and diverse pollinators are present to inject vibrancy and spread the seeds and plant materials so that the next generations of plants will thrive. Those plants forced to live on the edges of wild places fair far worse.  They must endure clearcutting, depletion of soils and use of toxic chemicals to force compliance and control.

The more the edges of wild place are encroached upon the more native plants are reaching the level of extinction. What is the answer?  There is only one.  Increase the range of native plants back into our farmlands, communities and gardens.  Create environments that will support these plants.  These are not plants that will thrive in greenhouses and row crop environments.  Most are plants that thrive only in plant communities with all the levels of life in attendance: fungi and mycelium, ponds and streams, moss and understory, multi-levels of canopy and multilevel soils that allow for healthy biological communities and access by wildlife and pollinators including wild bees and butterflies.

Eaglemount Farms will be raising and selling hundreds of varieties of Pacific Northwest native plants. We will be selling seed, plants, and plant materials.

Eaglemount Farms Elderberry Project

Our primary focus for 2014 through 2015 will be indigenous elderberries- blue in color (Sambucus caerulea) as well as the black elderberry (Sambucus nigra), which is found in many areas of the Pacific Northwest but was brought to the area by European Americans.  Both were primarily used to make immune-strengthening medicine and also used to make wine, cordials, and jams and jellies.

 

The Native Blue elderberry (Sambucus caerulea) was over-harvested in the 30’s and 40’s by pharmaceutical companies who paid local people to harvest the berry.  This was used for cough medicine, flu fighting medicine and other medicine.  The berries were also used to make wine and other alcoholic drinks.

This is a Northwest broadleaf deciduous shrub which can attain a height of 15’-30’ and can grow 10’ wide. Over time it forms a dense thicket with all the pithy stems that it bears. It has showy white flowers and light blue berries. It is used in hedgerows and on the edge of forests where it can access good light.  It thrives on moist soils, including those that flood.  The blue elderberry is prime habitat for wild bees, butterflies, birds, deer, and other animals.  The plant is harvested for flowers, berries, and cuttings to propagate other plants.  It is missing from most biomes in the Pacific Northwest and many people are just now learning about its importance.  The market for this plant is very large.

The competition is mostly “nativars” being imported from China. These nativars are hybrids of plants that are being grown for ornamental purposes.  The berry and flower lack vitality and native bees do not often recognize it.  This plant needs to be cultivated from wild native stock – both berries and cuttings.  Eaglemount farms will cultivate 5,000 plants the first year.

The Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) was brought to North America in the 1700’s by Europeans.  Over time the plant

has been hybridized and some of the plant varieties that are sold to gardeners, herbalists and farmers have lost their ecological and medicinal vitality.  Eaglemount farms has acquired seed directly from a native forest in County Cork, Ireland to be used on our farm.  These non-hybridized elderberry plants will be used as the foundation of our black elderberry nursery. We plan to have 5000 plants by the fall of 2015.

References

“Can alien plants support generalist insect herbivores?” (by D. Tallamy, M. Ballard. Biological invasions, 2010)

“Impact of Native Plants on Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity in Suburban Landscapes” (By K. Burghards, D. Tallamy and W.G. Shriver. Conservation Biology, 2008 )

Foundational Concept of Ecology Tested: Purple Loosestrife Altered Life in Nearby Ponds. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120623094322.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Plants+%26+Animals+News%29

Native Plant Society of Oregon – http://www.npsoregon.org/

Native Plant society of Washington – http://www.wnps.org/

The Oregon Flora Project – http://www.oregonflora.org/index.php

Xerces Society – http://www.xerces.org/western-bumble-bee/ viewed on the web on March 27, 2013

Monarch Butterfly habitat – Xerces Society – http://www.xerces.org/monarchs/

 

Find more about Eaglemount Farms at:

CONTACT: info@eaglemountfarms.com

on facebook: Eaglemount farms.