Native Plants

Native plants are a great choice for hedgerows, gardens, streamside plantings, meadows, woodlands, and more because they provide food and shelter for wildlife and pollinators and are well-adapted to local moisture regimes and soil types. Willamette Valley native plants can tolerate cool wet winters and warm dry summers. They do not require added fertilizers, and rarely need supplemental water after a year or two of summer watering to help them get established. We promote the use of native plants with our native plant sale and other handy resources.

Native Plant Sale

Marion SWCD holds two native plant sales each year to help you create beautiful, diverse wildlife habitat. We hold an Autumn Native Bulb Sale and a Spring Bareroot and Containerized Native Plant Sale.

Place your order December 1 through February 14! With over 100 species on the list, we’re sure to have something that works for your project! Once you have ordered, you will be able to scheduled your pick up time for February 28 or March 1 at Bauman’s Farm & Garden in Gervais.

Proceeds from the sale fund scholarships for students from Marion County studying natural resources at an Oregon college or university.

Visit catalog.

a sqaure graphic for the native plant sale with a photo of a native plant garden and some of the benefits of gardening with natives.

Native Plant Database

Rufus Hummingbird in flight pollinating a red flowering currant plant

Search for native plants in our easy-to-use, image-rich database, filter by habitat type, growth form, and other characteristics.

Search database.

Helpful Handouts

the front page of the low water use handout

Native Willamette Valley Low Water Use Plants

This 2-sided handout lists trees, shrubs and flowering native plants, their light needs, soil moisture preferences, special uses, mature heights and descriptions.

View handout.

the front page of the blooming time table

Blooming Time Table of Native Plants

This 2-sided handout lists the boom time range and colors for a selection of Willamette Valley native plants.

View Time Table.

Videos

Recommended Native Plant Resources

OregonFlora

OregonFlora has assembled a comprehensive guide to the ~4,700 vascular plants of Oregon that is shared through their website, the Flora of Oregon books, and their wildflower identification app.

Visit OregonFlora.

booklet cover with hummingbird sipping from currant flowers

Native Plants for Willamette Valley Yards

The native plants for Willamette Valley yards booklet includes 140 plants primarily native to the Portland metropolitan area. The native plants booklet was created by Metro in collaboration with more than 20 partners around the region.

Download booklet.

The Meadowscaping Handbook

The Meadowscaping Handbook: Designing, Planting and Managing an Urban Meadow is a compilation of knowledge and “lessons learned” designed as a “how-to” publication to help gardeners, landscape professionals, and ecologists in the Willamette Valley plan, design, plant, and maintain native plant meadows on small urban plots.

Go to the Handbook.

Cover of the pollinator plants fact sheet with bees and flowers at top and text at bottom

Pollinator Plants: Maritime Northwest Region

This fact sheet produced by Xerces Society features regionally native plants that are highly attractive to pollinators and are well-suited for small-scale plantings in gardens, urban greenspaces, and farm field borders, and on business and school campuses.

Get the fact sheet.

Audubon Native Plants Database

Audubon Society has created a native plant database in support of birds. Enter your 5-digit zip code to use Audubon’s native plants database and explore the best plants for birds in your area, as well as local resources and links to more information.

Visit Audubon’s database.