This house is for sale in my neighborhood. It hasn’t rained in weeks, but the grass was recently spray painted because apparently a house sitting on the market for months isn’t desirable. See lawn across the street for current drought conditions.
Hey all. I'm a software engineer, but native plants and pollinator gardening are my real passion, so I built a tool I always wanted:
It's free, no account needed to browse, no ads.
You put in your zip code and a few preferences (sun, water, goals like pollinators or low water) and it finds native plants that'll actually work for your spot. Save them into lists and it shows you which butterfly, moth, and bee species your garden supports, when things bloom through the year, and what's flowering right now.
All the plant data comes from real sources — USDA, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the National Wildlife Federation's pollinator data, with photos from iNaturalist. Nothing's made up; it all traces back to an actual database and I have links in the app citing all my sources
(NONE of the data is generate with AI)
It's usable but still early, and I'd love feedback. Its a rough version 1 but I'm happy to make any meaningful updates that could help out the community!
Thanks for taking a look.
I love douglas firs, and i know im poking a hornets nest by saying this, but as someone invested in native plants i gotta say something.
You ever seen a volunteer forest planting? I see a lot where i am, and they just stuff douglas firs in every time. It makes me think people plant them just because they are the symbol of our region.
But we do not need more doug firs, they are one of the most overplanted trees, thanks to their use in the timber industry. Many of the doug firs you get from a nursery are the runts from timber industry replantings. This means the trees have been selectively bred to grow fast and make wood, not to be ecological helpers.
Planting more doug firs means you lose the genetics of local doug firs in your area to this homogeneity. And its entirely unnecessary, if you have the habitat space, the seedlings will come up anyway.
If you live on the west side and want to plant trees, the one tree that we absolutely need more of is Garry Oak/Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana). Very drought tolerant and huge wildlife benefits. Grand fir is also a good choice for more shadier spots if you want a conifer.
If you live on the eastside consider chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) or sagebrushes, or Serviceberry, or ponderosa pine (tho that is common too).
Just a simple PSA for anyone who is involved in planting trees, which i hope is many of you.
edit: i dont want anyone to assume they are trash trees. obviously they are important in their ecosystems. wouldnt be on the flag if otherwise.
to clarify:
dont plant doug firs in oak savanna or former oak savannah. it might even make sense to remove them from that ecosystem *sometimes***
dont plant in the desert lol
generally dont plant them in the lowlands, much of the puget lowlands for example that wasnt oak savannah and madrone forest was hemlock dominated. yes doug firs occur down there but not im huge amounts. consider the site you are at.
dont plant doug firs where there are already mature doug firs, just let the seedlings come up and protect them from invasives.
if you are in an ecosystem where doug firs are one of the main trees and there are no mature doug firs around to provide a seed source, you can plant some local genetics doug fir.
Ok. Nuance achieved
edit 2: if your choice is between a non native tree and a doug fir please choose the doug fir. if your neighborhood doesnt have any doug fir for wide stretches, you can definetly plant it even in the lowlands. just dont plant a whole tree farm. native plants support local wildlife much more than non natives.
On 43rd and Brooklyn Ave. Nice place. I want to compliment the landscape designer.
Huge new planting done in what seems like this spring. All natives. Some maybe from southern oregon but most are quite local.
Got some pictures but there were way more. Forgot all the asteraceae that were there oops.
From left to right:
Redmaids (Calandrinia menziesii)
Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha)
Cascade beardstongue (Penstemon serrulatus)
Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), not bloomed yet
A few Sea blush (Plectritis congesta)
Lanceleaf Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris var. lanceolata)
Sea plantain (Plantago maritima)
Globe gillia (Gillia capitata)
Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)
Coyote brush (Bacchus pilularis), threatened locally but common further south.
Slough Sedge (Carex obnupta)
Silver Beach Bur (Ambrosia chamissonis)
Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and Large Flowered Collomia (Collomia grandiflora)
Big Leaf Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus)
Yes there is landscape fabric underneath
edit: maybe its too hard to see from the distance but those green things are plastic agaves lol
Not pictured is all the signs about how coast salish tribes used local plants. If i speak my mind anything more the fbi will arrest me for credible threats to landscaping companies.
Heard someone say this tree should be on a wa state flag. There are interesting differences here. While the douglas fir is in more areas of cascadia, the western hemlock is present in the furthest north end of cascadia.
Tsuga is actually a japanese word for hemlocks. Heterophylla means 'variable leaves' and its messy form is how you tell it apart from other species of hemlock.
The two colors represent the two subspecies of douglas fir. The ones in blue are the rocky mountain douglas fir (var. glauca), and the green is the coastal douglas fir (var. menziesii)
Green is the forests, blue is the sea, the tail represents whale life including our orcas, the grey is the true color of salish sea beaches, and the wavy lines represent the tide, coming in or going out.
David McCloskey was one of the first to define what cascadia was in the 70's, and has created many detailed maps defining and describing the region.
Personally, i think it is too ocean focused, and more in line for a salish sea flag. Tbh it would be kinda nice as a salish sea flag. Tho i dont know how he would feel about it.
Found this at the Admiral intersection. Ive always wondered why the neighborhood was named Admiral and which Admiral it was. Theres nothing about it online. And George Dewey never lived in seattle as far as i can see. He lived in DC for a lot of his life. Does anyone happen to know more?