{"id":62442,"date":"2024-08-07T13:53:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T20:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=62442"},"modified":"2024-08-07T13:53:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T20:53:35","slug":"backyard-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=62442","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had my first certification site visit last year. You can read the background here<\/a>. That post is a good explanation of the work I’ve done and what the program is. Why did I end up doing this? It wasn’t my goal when I started building my garden. But the stress and dread of climate change made me feel helpless and depressed for the future. In this small way I can do something for native plants and animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The initial visit went really well. For the Silver level 5% of my yard needs to be native and I’d almost met that requirement<\/a> at 4%. I don’t have any of the invasive species\/weeds. I was working on removing the ivy creeping through the fence from the neighbor’s yard. This is the before picture of the ivy from a few summers ago:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SO AWFUL!!!!!! I hired someone to remove a lot of it a few years ago and then I worked on it for a long time. I am in the maintenance phase of trying to keep it from my side of the fence. It’s hard. This is what it looked like this winter:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Raised Bed has tomatoes, Nasturium, Marigolds, Zucchini, Jalapeno<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

We recently had the fence rebuilt and it looks really nice (and will hopefully help with some of the other neighbor’s weeds and ivy coming through). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Partial Shade Garden & Veggie Garden<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nurse Log<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Vine Maple, Sword Fern, Deer Fern, Bitterroot (Natives)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Irises (native), Day Lilies, Lilac Tree (not native)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have a TON of plants, not all natives. But I *do* have 80 natives and of those, 69 are on the Portland Plant List, which is a hyper local list<\/a>. This is important because they support local birds, bees, pollinators etc with the flowers, seeds, leaves and berries that come from these native plants. For example, there are certain plants that feed Monarch butterflies on their migrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pacific Ninebark, Vine Maple, Red Flowering Currant (Natives)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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California Sea Pink<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are a lot of non-natives I love (like lavender, roses and dahlias). But I am so happy with how the native plants are thriving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Columbine<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Oregon Sunshine (native)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fringe Cups (Native)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Red Flowering Currant (Native)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have 4 out of the 5 vegetation layers and I have several of these<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n