Plant Selection & Sourcing
WSU Clark County Extension PNW Plants
Provides categorized images of plant types and full size photos of plants for identification purposes, the ability to find plants by common traits, and growing tips for plants.
A Common Sense Gardening Calendar
A printable yearly calendar to help South Sound gardeners plan their chores to optimize Common Sense Gardening techniques. The calendar includes information on natural lawn care, least-toxic pest control, disease prevention, and when to time these activities by season.
Cover Crops for Home Gardens East of the Cascades and West of the Cascades
These free downloadable fact sheets on cover crops for home gardeners focus on choosing the best cover crops for gardens in Washington and Oregon, east or west of the Cascades. (WSU Press)
To Protect Pollinators, Talk To Your Nursery
Xerces and partners are offering a new, informative, interactive webinar, Buying Bee-Safe Plants: How You Can Help. The webinar will provide tools for identifying pollinator-friendly growing practices in nurseries and greenhouses and help you develop a plan for talking to your nurseries.
Leafy Trees for Cooling Shade
From Carol Lightwood of Hotgardens.net
Plant List - A Common Sense Guide
A printable pdf from Thurston County featuring a table with local plant names (common and scientific)water and exposure needs, and helpful notes, as well as a reading list.
The Plant List
A companion to the Choosing the Right Plants Natural Lawn & Garden Guide from the Saving Water Partnership. Includes an easy to scan table of plants by size, type, sunlight needs, potential size, and more.
King County Native Plant Guide
Featuring a native plant finder, native plant landscaping plans, guide to creating a custom native plant list, and a variety of other gardening tips and how-to articles.
Thurston Conservation District - Annual Native Plant Festival
Order each year in the late fall for pick up around mid-February -email nwhite@thurstoncd.com or call (360-754-3588).
Great Plant Picks
This resource from the Elizabeth C. Miller Garden includes watering guidelines, lists of drought tolerant plants (in the sun and the shade -there are lots of ideas for shade plants!)as well as lists of good pollinators, plants with striking foliage, power line-friendly trees, plants for small spaces, a plant database findable by Latin plant name or common name, and much more, to help you find and plan the plants for your lawn and garden.
Choosing The Right Plants for a Beautiful, Trouble-Free Garden
Recommendations from the City of Seattle Public Utilities (page 7).
Sound Native Plants
This site features a handy species selection guide
OSU - Landscape Plants
Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences; Department of Horticulture site contains images and information on over 1,800 landscape plants, mostly woody. Individual plants can be accessed via either the Latin Names (e.g. Acer) or a Common Names (e.g. Maple). Both lists are in alphabetical order; for the Latin Names, from Abelia to Ziziphus and the Common Names from Abelia to Zelkova.
University of Washington Botanic Gardens - Plant Answer Line
A quick reference service tailored to the needs of Northwest gardeners.
Horticultural Myths
Professor Linda Chalker-Scott dispels common myths with science-based information about fertilizers, compost and mulch ingredients, trees and shrubs, how plants work, pesticides, soil amendments, and more.
