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Native Plant Guide

Information and Services for King County, Washington
 

Native Plant Guide Help

  
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About the Native Plant Guide
Definitions: availability and ease
Definitions: deciduous or evergreen?
Definitions: exposure and moisture
my Plant List
Browsing for photos
Landscape plans
Registering for a free account
Search for plants

About the Native Plant Guide
You can help create a healthy environment in your yard and around King County by using natural yard care and landscaping techniques. Using native plants in your landscape is an excellent way to have a beautiful, lower-maintenance yard that can attract wildlife and won't need as much water or fertilizer.

This Native Plant Guide will help you find the right plants for your yard so your native plant landscape will thrive.
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Definitions: availability and ease
Availability -- how easy are the plants to find at area nurseries.
High - means pretty common at most places selling plants
Medium - more likely found at nurseries with a decent native plant selection
Low - look for at native plant sales and at specialty nurseries

Ease -- how difficult are the plants to grow
High - large margin of error on growing conditions. Tough to kill!
Medium - easy to grow if all the specific growing conditions are met
Low - specific or uncommon requirements for survival that make plant challenging to grow even when conditions are met.
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Definitions: deciduous or evergreen?
Deciduous - drops leaves at end of growing season
Evergreen - retain leaves for more than a year
Perennial - an herbaceous plant living year to year and not dying after flowering once. Perennials can be evergreen, semi-evergreen, deciduous or a combination all.
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Definitions: exposure and moisture
Sunny conditions - Areas receiving at least 6 hours of sun including afternoon sun.
Part shade - 2-6 hours of sun.
Shade - less than two hours of sun.
Dry - quick drying, well draining soils
Moist - damp much of the year, but may dry out completely during late summer drought. Not standing water. Some may be wetlands, others not.
Wet - very rarely or never dries out. Soils may be saturated for long periods of the year. Would classify as wetlands.
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my Plant List
Wondering what the wheelbarrow is there for? As you look through the Native Plant Guide, you may find favorite plants you want to remember for later. Or you may want to make your own list to take with you to a nursery.

You can add any plant to your plant list, and the wheelbarrow at the top of the screen will help you keep track of the plants you've already selected. If you go to your plant list, you can see your selections and remove plants if necessary.

Once you have selected the plants you're interested in, you can print your list, e-mail it to yourself, or even register for a free account to save your list for later.
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Browsing for photos
If you aren't sure what plants you're looking for, you might want to look through the extensive photo collection for something that catches your eye. Because we are constantly adding more plants and new information, we may not have photos for all of the plants in our database. You will probably also see multiple photos of some plants that highlight different features of the plant.

If you click on one of the thumbnail photos, you will see all of the details about that plant.
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Landscape plans
We have included a number of sample landscape plans for different planting conditions or special situations. These plans feature selected plants that are generally easier to find and grow and work well together. Not all plants in the database can be found on these sample plans.

If you have a variety of conditions on your property, feel free to use the sample plans as a starting point and mix and match to come up with your own tailored plant list.
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Registering for a free account
You do not need to register for an account unless you want to save your plant list for later. When you return, you can log in to see the plants you saved and look for more native plants.

To register, enter your name, e-mail address, and zip code, and choose a user name and password you can remember when you return. We need your e-mail address to send you your account information as a reminder. You do not have to enter your zip code, but it helps us get an idea of where people are using native plants.

When you register, we will send you a brief confirmation e-mail. You will need to click the link in that e-mail to finish the registration process.
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Search for plants
If you have specific requirements or conditions you're trying to accomodate (maybe you have one spot that's really wet and shady), you can search for plants that meet those requirements. The plant search page offers many options for finding plants by type, growing conditions, or a range of keywords.

You can also enter search terms to further narrow your selections. For instance, if you all your plants get eaten by slugs, enter slug to see if you can find slug-resistant native plants.