Open Gardens Project – Featuring Suzanne’s Habitat

February 20, 2025/JP Marchetti-Mendez/

Site Information: This backyard habitat in Gladstone has full sun, part sun, shade, dry, and moist growing conditions.

Lush garden with various plants, including tall flowering lupines with spiky stems and green leaves. Red flowers climb a wooden fence on the left. The background features dense greenery and shrubs, suggesting a well-tended natural garden.

What inspired you to enroll in the Backyard Habitat Certification Program?

I saw one with a sign and knew I wanted to create a habitat to encourage native plants, insects, and birds with shelter options and food.

Young milkweed plants with elongated green leaves are growing in a garden bed covered with bark mulch, surrounded by a wooden fence.

How would you describe your habitat?

I use natural gardening techniques, such as manually removing weeds and leaving dry foliage over the winter. I plan to install a small bee house this Spring. I have sources of water available for wildlife.

A wooden frog sculpture is sitting on a moss-covered rock in a garden. Surrounding plants include small purple flowers, green bushes, and a tree in the background. The ground is covered with wood chips.

What are your top three favorite native plants, and why do you love them?

Spring queen—it bloomed from Spring through the Fall.
Vine maple—such an elegant little tree and the birds love to perch in it.
Flowering red currant—it is tough and pretty, with flowers in Spring and berries in late summer.
Salal—it loves a shady corner, and I love that it is edible.
I look forward to the showy milkweed attracting monarchs.

A small garden area with wood chip mulch and several green plants. A circular arrangement of stones surrounds some of the plants. In the background, there is a wooden fence.

What changes have you observed as a result of creating habitat?

Neighbors have engaged me in conversation about it, and there is a lot of enthusiasm. I have had some new insects, like big black bumblebees in the lupine and a black dragonfly.

A young tree surrounded by stones is planted in a garden. To the right, a large tree with moss-covered rocks underneath provides shade. A wooden deck is partially visible in the background, and a wooden fence borders the garden.

What were the two most significant challenges you encountered while creating habitat, and how did you address them?

Noxious weeds, such as shining geranium, were a big job to remove, and I had to continue to stay alert for them on the perimeter of the garden. Two pampas grass plants took a long time to eradicate. The biggest challenge was removing grass. I paid a neighbor to help with the digging because it was too much for me. Then, my well-informed helper suggested cardboard mulching for the next phase, which was a lot easier! It took many months of patiently waiting, but the grass and weeds died naturally.

A garden with a stone-bordered flower bed containing various plants and shrubs. The area is surrounded by a wooden fence with tall trees and a few smaller plants in the background. The grass is neatly mown.

What resources did you find especially helpful?

Webinars with the organizations in the Backyard Habitat program in the first year and word of mouth with my neighbor with a native habitat.

Purple flowers with slender green leaves are surrounded by various green plants and ferns. A moss-covered rock rests nearby, and the ground is covered with wood chips and small plants.

How do you enjoy your Backyard Habitat throughout the different seasons? What are its highlights in each season?

I enjoy Spring, the miracle of seeing the young plants emerge, and summer is my favorite, with flowering and insects enjoying the fullness. Fall is a great time to see how the plants unwind and pull in their energy. Winter is a time to notice seed pods, which is good for identifying the difference between native hazelnut bushes and non-native ones, for example.

A garden with various green plants and tall flowering stalks in front of a wooden fence. The area is lush with foliage, featuring different textures and shades of green. The background shows more plants and some patches of grass.

What part of your backyard habitat are you most proud of?

The oval in the backyard is packed with lovely plants native to the Willamette Valley.

A blue pot contains a fern with green fronds, situated on a bed of mulch. In the background, there is a wooden fence, a tree, and more ferns growing in the mulch. A section of a house is partially visible.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about your journey?

I have created beds in the front yard since getting certified at the gold level at the end of July 2023. One has native plants planted in late Fall 2024, and the other will have a few bushes I will plant in Spring 2025.

A hand holding dried milkweed seed pods and seeds. The pods are partially open, revealing small brown seeds attached to white fibers. The ground in the background is covered with brown soil and leaves.

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