This is the third year I’ve seen a significant presence of Brown Rot in my orchard and has become more than a minor inconvenience. The infection started on my Pluots, but this year the infection spread to my most reliable stone fruit: Methley. Methley has cropped reliably for me for 15 years with no signs of infection. One of my Asian pears are showing signs of the disease as well (but the infection there is minimal).

After losing my whole crop of Pluots last year, I did as much research as a home gardener could do on the issue, but found that info for us is severely lacking. One of the recommendations that was given to me was the use of copper. But I could not find info on appropriate timing of spray. I was told I should simply follow the manufacturer’s recommendations - but that info was not at all clear to me on the label.

Side note: I’m super hesitant to spray copper, or any fungicide, knowing that spraying of copper is problematic. It is said to accumulate and be toxic toward soil microbes. On the other hand, I’ve learned from experience that stone fruit is very tricky to grow here in the PNW. In order to combat most of the diseases that eventually accumulate on stone fruit, commercial orchards spray Prunus species quite heavily for a variety of disease and insect issues. My impression is that European prune/plums (depending on variety) are the least problematic stone fruits to grow in home orchards, and even if a little copper fungicide spraying takes place it is probably (?) far less detrimental to ecosystems than what is bought from outside orchards.

Couple that with the fact that European prune/plums in particular are a very good for “putting up”. I particularly like dehydrated plums - Italian and Brooks plums are reliable producers of significant amount of shelf-stable, great tasting food. I’m also a big fan of roasted prune/plums with a touch of sugar. After cooking they freeze excellently for an easy, quick, yummy, whole fruit snack.

I’ve got a few young European plums in my orchard, and it would be seriously irksome if they also start showing signs of disease when they are ready to fruit significantly.

My motivation to figure out how to make Brown Rot go away so I can be successful at growing European prune/plums is high. But from reading through the label on the copper, it says that the trees “can” be sprayed during bloom, and the sprays “can” be used at various other times. Instructions at various other internet resources are just as vague. Just like with medications, we need to know what the lowest effective dose is and appropriate time of year.

I made a guess - since the spray during bloom is most often mentioned first, I figured that must be the most important time to spray. Knowing that the infection could potentially spread from one Prunus species to the next, I sprayed all of my plums in 2026 during this time frame and hoped the one spray would do the trick.

The result: my Pluots were a little less impacted than last year - but only a little. And the spread to other fruit trees is unacceptable.

A few weeks ago I saw in the Home Orchard Education Center that they were having a stone fruit growing class, and thought, perhaps I would get additional info if I brought my experience and discussed it there.

Glad I did. The director of HOEC informed me that there are differing formulations for copper, and the little bottle of liquid that one buys at the store is the least effective. The more effective formulation is powdered copper, which is expensive initially, but a large bag of it lasts a very long time. The formulation that they use in their orchard is Kocide 3,000. Note that in the write up on OSU’s disease management page for Brown Rot, they specifically state that fixed-copper is not effective - apparently this is a fixed copper? Not sure. Contradictory advice sucks.

According to the HOEC director, the most important time for spraying is in the fall, when 3/4 of the leaves have fallen. After that, 3 additional sprays are recommended: once as flower buds swell, once after the petals fall, and one more after petal fall, a few weeks after the first spray after petal fall.

Copper is also somewhat effective on Shothole disease, but there isn’t much you can do about shothole otherwise. It also helps with Bacterial Canker a bit.

I may simply remove my Pluot, since it appears to be source of the disease in my orchard, and the fruit is not suitable toward drying or cooking (it turns sour when dehydrated or cooked). We will see.

Other burning questions about stone fruit I had was about thinning. There isn’t anywhere near as much discussion on thinning stone fruit as there is on pome fruits in garden culture literature.

I thought to ask this question for a few reasons: some of my stone fruit tends to seriously overcrop, so much so that branch breakage is a major threat.

Also, I have friends who grow stone fruit and they mention that they have issues with the trees dropping fruit late in the season. I asked if they had thinned the fruit crop at all and they said no. My thought is that the tree is simply dropping fruit because it cannot handle the load.

And since my euro prune/plums are young, I bought a crate of them from a nearby orchard. I noticed that they cooked up rather sour and seemed quite small. Also of note: many of the plums in the bottom of the box had quite a bit of rot on them.

So my question to HOEC was: should we be thinning our stone fruit the same way that we do pome fruits, to avoid sourness, rot, insect, etc.? The answer, yes. At least fist width apart, more so if there is potential for branch breakage.

The task can become rather tedious, as you see in the above photo of Pluot, that’s a ton of thinning. You can simply prune the fruiting spurs off to help avoid having to do that task repeatedly, or snip off flowers.

I’ll keep you posted on the status of disease next year.

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To my surprise, they’ve been doing very well in my garden. Over the winter I happened to notice some seeds on the top of the plant, and was even more surprised when they germinated and grew quite well for me shortly after after sticking them in potting soil. I’ll describe the method I used to germinate them below.

A few years after planting, I found out that there are a few of this species that naturally occur on the valley floor, which suggests they really are suited here. Check out the range map for this plant in Oregon Flora. Someone mentioned that there are theories that this species traveled down waterways to establish itself here.

Also, I have heard from a couple of other gardeners who have grown this plant, and hear that they, too, find this one easy to grow in their Willamette Valley gardens.

Sadly it is not common to find this plant in cultivation. Occasionally some nurseries have it - snatch them up quick if you find them. Klamath-Siskiyou has seed. If you happen to have friends growing this species, you can ask them to save seed for you and easily grow them yourself.

Below is a collection of photos of Willamette Valley specific butterflies that are utililizing this plant. Note that some of the photos are from my garden, but most are captured in the cascades by naturalist Tanya Harvey. Though the pics are in the cascades, the specific photos I pulled from her site are butterflies that occupy the valley floor. There are many other mentions of butterflies that do not occupy our range on her site utilizing this plant.

Note: every one of the following species mentioned in these photos are way more common in the cascades than they are on the valley floor, except for the Western Tiger Swallowtail. None of them have shortages of caterpillar food plants in our area. I suspect that their limitations may have much more to do with a shortage of nectar plants to support the adult part of their life cycle. Without nectar, they don’t have the energy to fly and mate and lay eggs. But, butterflies are somewhat particular about what flowers they get their nectar from. Buckwheats are favorites for many butterfly species — but buckwheats are substantially more common in the cascade mountains (see the above range map for this species). Here is an example of a range map for the Snowberry Checkerspot butterfly, then compare it to the above range map of Arrowleaf Buckwheat:

Every one of the other butterflies that are mentioned below have similar-looking range maps, except for the Western Tiger Swallowtail. Here are a few other species:

Other than butterflies, these plants attract an incredible array of insects. It’s simply fascinating to watch.

Starting from seed:

Late winter, probably mid-January, I noticed some seed hanging on the plants. I put these in gritty potting medium. Here is a post describing how I came to use this medium. In short, use a standard mix amended with 20-30% perlite or pumice. I prefer pumice, as it does not break down and is very inexpensive to purchase at soil yards. I bought a big bag, so much that I could barely lift it, for $8 at Mount Scott Fuel.

Though I started these late winter, you can certainly start them much earlier, but I would not wait any longer as they seem to prefer at least some short stratification period.

These grew pretty rapidly. I only put a few in pots, and a few of them disappeared. I think the birds got to them. I did notice some slug slime on some of the maturing plants, but no actual damage. I suspect these plants are slug resistant. ((Side note: another theory of mine is that non-native invasive slugs have ruined many other populations of suitable nectar species in the Willamette Valley)).

I had these plants sitting in a full-sun area, but then noticed that they were getting awfully hard to keep watered. I brought them up on my deck, which has minimal full-sun exposure and is right next to a water source. They started growing rapidly again, even with minimal sun exposure.

Once I potted these up into 1/2 gallon pots in the height of summer, they received a sprinkle of water 1 (sometimes 2) times per day. I will be planting these out in the garden in a few weeks.

I’ve never noticed these self-seeding in the garden. I suspect that the native soil texture isn’t quite right for that. They need a much more air in the porous structure to germinate, but like most seedlings they seem to be able to handle more compacted conditions once they are fully growing.

Siting the plants:

The site that does well for me is situated in sun from about 9-2 at the height of summer, with high overhead shade. I don’t ever water them. When I planted them I mounded the soil to create slope, as well added quite a bit of gravel and organic matter to the soil. I suspect that the soil has gotten rather compacted again since that time, but haven’t dug down to confirm.

These may be a little more adapted to compacted soils than what I have knowledge of. Perhaps over the coming years as these plants become more popular we will have better knowledge. For now, I’ll be making sure my plantings get decently hilled and and some pumice/gravel/coarse organic matter added.

The other Eriogonum that is supposed to do well in valley gardens is Sulfur Buckwheat, of which there are many cultivars as well as straight seeds available. Naked Buckwheat also makes a presence in the Willamette Valley area. I’m trialing both, but for now I highly recommend getting your hands on Arrowleaf Buckwheat.

Have you ever attempted to grow any of our Eriogonum species?

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First of all: the flavor. Grocery store garlic is good, but, it tends to be overpoweringly pungent in larger quantities. So if you want anything more than a hint of garlic flavor, you can’t do regular old garlic without going overboard. Homegrown garlic tends to be very garlicky without being overwhelming. My favorite use for garlic is to turn green vegetables (kale, green beans, chard, etc) from a food that tastes good to something that tastes delicious. And my kid agrees with me. This time of year I am bringing her a big bowl of green beans smothered in sauteed garlic nearly every day. The look on her face - every time I do so - is as if I am handing her something rich like Spaghetti Carbonara. She loves it that much.

Second: that grocery store garlic has the smallest, most annoying-to-peel cloves. Most of the garlics you buy at the store are a “silverskin” type, which has like a million little cloves in one bulb with tight wrappers that are super tedious to pull off. Another type of garlic found in grocery store is “artichoke” types, which are moderately better, but still fairly annoying to work with.

Third: garlic is relatively effortless to grow: plant in the fall, harvest in the early summer. When the garlic comes out of the bed, another quick crop can be planted in place. I have done green beans, Callaloo, beets, and basil. They all come out of the ground in time to re-plant garlic, as of yet, I’ve never had an issue with replanting garlic in the same location. I’ve also done Tall Green Purslane in the beds, which is a very interesting salad green to grow. I do get a few self-seeded plants every year now, but it hasn’t spread beyond the bed I had initially planted it in. This year I’ve had hard time with finches eating vegetable seedlings, and a rabbit got into my fencing, so I’m trying a quick cover crop to enrich the bed.

Once you have made the purchase of “seed” garlic, you can simply replant every year. No need to buy new stock each year, unlike many home grown crops. Unless of course, you’re like me and can’t stop thinking about trying additional types of garlic.

I suppose there are worse addictions to have.

I have a few varieties of garlic that I will always plant every year, but I did just put in an order for a pound of Georgian Crystal garlic seed. The reason: bigger, fatter bulbs than other varieties I have, and even bigger cloves to work with.

I do already have one variety that comes out of the garden impressively sized:

However, I haven’t always been super impressed with the flavor. It is still vastly better than store bought garlic, and I will likely always grow it. Killarney Red is a “rocambole” type, which is supposed to have superior flavor to all other types. I haven’t found that to be the case. I did read somewhere that rocamboles need substantially cold winters to bring out their impressive flavors. The Willamette Valley in western Oregon is definitely not that.

The other bummer about rocamboles is that they last only a few months after pulling from the ground. So you have to use them up quick.

The Georgian Crystal I put in an order for is a porcelain type, which is supposed to last a little longer, and the flavor is supposed to rival that of rocamboles. Also - the size! Some growers say many people mistake the porcelain they grow for elephant garlic (elephant garlic is a leek, and does not have the same rich garlic flavor). Every source I have read on the topic seems to agree that the flavor profile of this variety is exceptional. So, I will give it a go this fall.

Other garlics I grow:

Xian - the earliest maturing variety I know of. Mine comes out of the ground late Mayish. I like the flavor a lot, but don’t love it raw - go easy on it. It is ready just when you’re really starting to crave hummus or raw kale salad during the warmest months of the year. It only lasts a few months.

Red Toch - this one comes out of the ground just like two weeks or so later than Xian. I like the raw flavor a little better than Xian. It is an artichoke type that has some small cloves, still better than grocery store types.

Chesnok Red - this one has great flavor and comes out of the ground in early July. It has relatively large bulbs and easy to peel cloves. This is the one that I’d recommend everyone start with. At this time, if I only had one garlic to choose to grow, this would be it. But the Georgian Crystal I noted above may prove to be a rival, considering its flavor profile is supposedly quite good and has even bigger, fatter cloves.

I like particularly large, easy to peel cloves, because when I cook with garlic, I want a lot of it, but I don’t want to fuss around for a long time peeling.

I learned this year that larger quantities of sauteed garlic last in the freezer quite a long time. I used the rest of last year’s garlic butter nearly a year after I made it with no loss in quality. Besides making and freezing soups/stews and pesto, this is the way I circumvent the short storage life of the best tasting garlics. Just thaw for a bit and spoon onto whatever you want to flavor up. Here’s how I do it:

Grab about 8 bulbs of garlic and peel. I use my Cuisinart to mince.

Pre-heat a saute pan gently on low. Cast iron works best for me. I use a mix of olive oil and butter, roughly 50/50. I use enough oil to comfortably keep the pieces suspended and freely floating, roughly 4 tablespoons butter and 4 tablespoons olive oil.

Cook gently, with moderate bubbling, stir regularly. Be patient and cook slowly, garlic burns easily and tastes awful if you have gone too far. It will take roughly 10-15 minutes to cook it well. Season with half a teaspoon or so of salt.

After 10 minutes or so, the garlic will dehydrate/shrink a bit in the pan. I like it once the garlic starts sticking to the bottom of the pan a little. That’s about the time to take the pan off the heat.

I then spoon the garlic into freezer safe jars. The half pint jelly jars work great. I put in an amount that, when pulled from the freezer, is likely to be used up within a week or so.

And hey, while you have a bunch of flavor stuck to the bottom of the pan, why not make use of it? Put a cup of water in the pan and put it back on gentle heat. Gently scrape up the bits of stuck garlic when the water starts to simmer. Toss in some greens or green beans with salt, cover the pan to distribute the heat throughout. When it is heated through you can let the steam escape and reduce. Add some of your precious garlic butter if there isn’t enough already, and Voila! Simple yumminess.

Any other gardeners addicted to home grown garlic out there?

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Last year I bought a start of a Denseflower Willowherb, a plant that is supposed to reseed quite heavily all on its own. After planting, it didn’t really grow and just kind of limped along. It did not reseed for me.

But this year, a cluster of this plant popped up near my wetland (completely different area of last year’s planting) after removing blackberries. I did spread a few packets of seed in the area, but I don’t recall spreading this species of seed. Also the dense cluster it has formed doesn’t look like seed I spread around. Wherever it came from, it is gorgeous, but hard to capture a photo of.

This plant has been blooming for nearly a month, and shows no sign of slowing down or looking ratty.

Speaking of Epilobiums, check out this moth caterpillar I found on “weedy” fringed willowherb:

Pretty sure I caught a glimpse of this species flying as an adult, but didn’t capture a photo. Check out photos of the black and white dotted moth here. Neat.

Langdon’s Forester moth only accepts species of Epilobiums as host. Note that there are quite a few other species of moths, particularly day-flying “hummingbird” or “clearwing” or “sphinx” moths that also only utilize Epilobiums.

The hunt for pearly everlasting female/male

A few months ago I ran around and gathered a bunch of Pearly Everlasting divisions from various gardeners, in the hopes that I would get at least one of each sex, so that I would hopefully start getting some seed. Sad to report, I’m pretty sure every one of the plants that made it to the blooming phase this year has turned out to be a male.

Right now is their bloom time, and the easiest way to tell if the plants are male or female. I went for a long walk in the forest behind my home to see if I could identify any of the females. Out of the 7 populations I found, only one of them is a female. It is located quite a ways away from the other populations, and the bloom times don’t quite seem to be coinciding. I’ll be trying to help hand pollinate, by brushing the male population flowers with a paintbrush, and then brushing onto the female. I will also try finding more female populations soon.

The reason I’m so eager to find a female: in my quest for butterfly appropriate habitat plants, Pearly Everlasting keeps popping up as a nectar plant of choice. You can find where I gathered that information here. I have a ton of space that would be just right for this plant.

I actually haven’t personally seen any butterflies using Pearly Everlasting, and started wondering if the difference might have to do with the fact that many plants appear to be male versus female. Google brought me to OSU, where I pulled this quote: “Female and male flowers are generally found on separate Pearly Everlasting plants. This means that male plants provide nectar and pollen to insect visitors while female flowers just provide nectar.” Perhaps the female plants are more nectar rich, and that’s why butterflies are drawn to them? I hope to study this phenomenon in the future when I have female plants here at home.

Here is a link out of Minnesota showing the differences between male and female flowers. And someone posted this very helpful photo online:

Common Wood Nymph

Right on cue, the Common Wood Nymph has appeared in my garden. For at least 10 years, it has always showed up in the same section of my garden. It isn’t colorful, and would normally be hard to notice. Except that when I walk by it it jumps out at me, and does this miraculous little dance: flitting up about 8 feet into the air, then down towards the ground, back and forth, flitting over the garden. It then seems to tire of me following it around and eventually flies away, coming back several times over the next couple of weeks. Normally it is too flitty for a photo, but I finally got an ok shot.

I’m not sure what it is attracted to in the garden. I’ve never seen it nectaring. Host plants are a wide range of grasses, with at least half of them being non-native. It usually jumps out at me in my orchard, where I have had quite a few Deschampsia cespisota (Tufted Hairgrass) plants that have naturalized after I planted them some time ago. I was told that the variant that I put in my garden is likely the Eurasian version that is being sold as native.

I’m not entirely sure it matters the exact ecotype, from the butterfly’s perspective. Of the eight species of butterflies that occupy the Willamette Valley, 6 of them are confirmed to have evolved to utilize non-native naturalized grasses, and two of them aren’t clear which grasses are being used. Some have records outside the region have recorded eurasian grasses, but they aren’t recorded in our region.

Though the Tufted Hairgrass has not been recorded in our area as host, it is absolutely possible. Perhaps some day I will catch a glimpse of it laying an egg.

Gray Hairstreak

Speaking of laying eggs, I happened to catch a shot of a Gray Hairstreak laying eggs on one of my checkermallows recently.

This seems to be a strong year for them, as I have seen them many times. And other gardeners have reported finding pink larvae on their checkermallows as well.

There was another photo of larvae on the flowering stems posted, but I can’t seem to find it at the moment. Isn’t it interesting that all of these are on flowering stems? Presumably the pink comes from the color in the flower petals.

Zinnia Elegans

This year I raised a ton of annual zinnias from seed. I grew them essentially like a warm weather crop, up out of the slug zone until the weather warmed up enough for them to rapidly grow. This year that happened to be mid-June, as we had unseasonably cool weather for a little while. I’m happy to report they are very easy to grow.

While most of my plantings are native in origin, zinnias aren’t native here. But they are known to be an excellent butterfly nectar plant. And since they aren’t known to be problematic in our region (not spreading and choking out other plants) I thought I would give them a go. Glad I did.

They are really just starting to bloom heavily. So far I’ve seen an Orange Sulphur feeding on them, and the same swallowtail has come back several days in a row to feed on them.

Watching this butterfly feed so closely, one has to wonder if they make such good butterfly plants because it would be difficult to reach the nectar in those long tubes otherwise. Do you see how far the proboscis descends into the flowers? Note that I have seen hummingbirds quite a bit drinking nectar from the zinnias too. I gotta wonder if our butterflies and hummingbirds in particular are suffering from non-native honeybees stealing more easily accessible nectar.

Many Madias

On my walk yesterday, I happened to notice a multitude of Madias back in the forest. The first to catch my eye is a slender species, nearly done flowering setting seed. I believe these are Madia gracilis, but it started to get confusing as I saw more and more types of tarweed all occupying the same space. Reading through Oregon Flora I captured this note: “Madia gracilis often co-occurs with M. sativa. The two species are easily confused because of morphological similarities and inherent variation within both, especially when presented with only ill-prepared or incomplete herbarium material. Despite the tendency of M. gracilis to flower earlier than M. sativa, the two species are partially interfertile (Clausen 1951); hybridization may explain the difficulty of identifying some individuals.”

Indeed, I also saw what looked like a lot of Madia sativa. But growing right next to it I also saw many apparently Madia glomerata!

I can only wonder if all of the Madias hybridize, and what I am seeing are a mix of them all.

I’m not sure what they all are, but I love the smell. Note that Madia sativa was, and is still (in some parts of the world) used as a seed oil. Fascinating.

Also, this little critter was crawling around on the plants that I found rather interesting:

Apparently this insect has a close association with Phacelias and Tarweeds, but it isn’t known exactly what the association is.

Dun Skipper

The Dun Skipper has made it into my garden this year, or at least, I noticed it this year. I noticed this Skipper for the first time last year in the woods behind me, in wetland. This year I’ve been really trying to pay attention to even the smallest of butterflies, and noticed the Dun coming to feed on the lavender many days in a row.

This species feeds on a multitude of sedges, included non-native naturalized sedges. It is hard to capture the shimmery coppery colors, but it really is gorgeous to observe.

Clarkia

Last fall I tossed around various annual seed packages. I’m happy to report that Clarkia species have grown well, unlike many species of annual seeds that seem to succumb to birds and slugs. Except… well, they seem to be the favored flower for some kind of leaf cutter bee.

See those round chomps out of the petals? That’s the work of particular types of bee that use certain leaves (or flower) parts to line their nests. I’m only minimally annoyed by their presence, of course. Part of the reason for growing native plants is to support their ecosystem.

When I discussed this phenomenon online, I learned that there is actually a bee that specifically has a preference for Clarkia flowers.

Apparently they are generalist pollinators, but have a preference for Clarkia flowers for their nests. I wonder what the draw is.

Hedge Nettle Stink Bug

Lastly, did you know that Hedge Nettles have their very own Stink Bug? Apparently Cosmopepla conspicillaris prefers to feed on native Stachys plants.

Apparently it doesn’t have much impact on Cooley’s Hedge Nettle. This plant has always been present, but now that some sunnier areas have opened up, seeds are spreading fast in the wetland. I’m happy it is naturalizing further. The hummingbirds in particular seem to really like it.

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Vulnerable species

As I laid out in one of my last posts, there are a multitude of butterflies in our region that are considered vulnerable and in need of conservation. The following are all of the details that I can find specific to SGIN species, which are considered potentially vulnerable.

Species of Greatest Information Need (SGIN)

Our State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) identifies “Species of Greatest Information Need” as follows: “SGIN are species potentially vulnerable or of concern, but for which current data and understanding are scarce. For these species, some basic information, such as habitat associations and general abundance, is not known. It is, therefore, not possible to determine whether they are truly at risk and should be designated as a SGCN. General areas in which SGIN are lacking basic information include taxonomy, distribution and range, population dynamics or trends, threats or stressors, and habitat requirements. For SGIN, conservation actions should be aimed at filling these data gaps.”

I was surprised when I went through the list that quite a few butterflies that are known to be present in the Willamette Valley are included in this list. I’d estimate about 1/4 of the butterflies known to occupy our area are included! However, unlike with Species of Greatest Conservation Need (butterflies identified as definitely needing conservation efforts) the specific ecoregions for species that need information are not identified. The Willamette Valley may or may not be the area that they are concerned about. My understanding is that the SWAP is only updated every 10 years, meanwhile, we lose precious time by not paying attention to their needs.

Nearly every one of the following butterfly species were also identified as dramatically declining in Xerces Society’s alarming report titled State of the Butterflies in the United States: a Roadmap for Conservation in the 21st Century in the Pacific Northwest region. The only two exceptions are the West Coast Lady, which was identified in the Pacific Southwest region as dramatically declining, and the Green Comma. These two species didn’t make the Xerces list for unknown reasons.

Note that, I suspect that host plants are needed in significantly sizable patches. See this post for more information regarding that.

The host plant information came from multiple sources, which are all listed on the master list for butterflies in our region here. Nectar sources are based on my observations and cataloging of several thousand photographs, detailed in this post, as well as resource #5 if “frequent” nectar draws are observed.

Clodius parnassian - Parnassius Clodius

I was surprised to see this butterfly listed as potentially vulnerable. It is a consistent visitor to my garden late May and June. However I’m not sure that I’ve seen other Willamette Valley residents posting photos of this species.

Host plant: this particular species host only on Bleeding Hearts. I have a fairly sizable patch of naturally occurring bleeding heart on my property, and there are enormous swaths of it occurring back in the forest behind my home. From what I can tell, those populations are dwindling due to invasive Scotch Broom and Blackberry.

Nectar: favorite nectar sources documented in photos include: senecio, pearly everlasting, dogbane, and aster.

Sara’s/Julia’s Orangetip - Anothocharis julia flora - Julia’s Orangetip - is the butterfly that occupies our region. Some sources call it a subspecies of what was “Sara’s Orangetip” and others call it a separate species. The taxonomic split revisions are confusing and many sources are not up-to-date with this information.

I saw one, unmistakably, for the first time flit through my garden in April 2026. Otherwise, the only time I have seen them was on a hike in the gorge. There were many dozens of them, nectaring on fiddlenecks.

Host plants are in the brassica family and include: bittercress/toothwort/cardamine, arabis, wintercress.

My book Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies says that Arabis is the most favored out of all of the brassicas, and a population of the butterflies are likely found on spring days where there are fields of Arabis. In looking through Oregon Flora, I see one species of Arabis, Arabis eschscholtziana (Eschscholz’s Rockcress) that is found in the Willamette Valley. However, I note that California records (resource #5) show that a frequently used species down there called Turritis glabra (Tower Mustard) that is also native here in the Willamette Valley. This species used to be included in the Arabis group, but taxonomic groups have changed, so it didn’t come up in my initial search.

Unfortunately I don’t believe either of these species is in cultivation.

If you see seed or plant resources, or know of a population I might collect seed from, please let me know. All other native brassicas are definitely worth pursuing as well.

Nectar: this one has a strong preference for fiddleneck. Seed source available through Northwest Meadowscape. In looking through photos, I learned that they seem to really like mustards, and Barbarea orthoceras (American Yellow Rocket) was identified as frequently used in California (seed available through Northwest Meadowscapes), and serves as a secondary host plant.

I haven’t yet grown either nectar species as I acquired seed late in the year, but will be attempting both in the fall.

Knowing that this species likes brassicas so much, this year I purposely let my kales flower, in part to see if they would attract Julia’s Orangetip. Perhaps this is the reason at least one came through my garden this year, coinciding with the kale blooms.

Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) and Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme)

These two similar species are said to often hybridize, and they largely use the same host plants. A wide range of native and introduced legumes are used as hosts, and they can be “pests” on alfalfa and red clover fields. I find it puzzling that these two species are considered potentially vulnerable. Perhaps they are drawn to clover and alfalfa fields which are heavily treated with insecticides?

Eriphyle’s Sulphur Colias eriphyle

According to resource #11, the species of butterfly that was initially considered a subpsecies of the above Clouded Sulphur is now no longer considered the same species. The range of the Clouded Sulphur is no longer considered the western United States. The species that resides here is actually Colias eriphyle, or Eriphyle’s Sulphyr. Caterpillar food plants are all similar: a wide range of native and non-native legumes. California records note that it is frequently seen nectaring on Bidens cernua.

Purplish Copper - Tharsalea helloides - synonym Lycaena helloides
Synonym: Lycaena helloides

The Purplish Copper is another surprise, considering it will host on several native and non-native weedy species. Polygonums (knotweeds, smartweeds), Rumex (docks and sorrels), and Potentilla (cinquefoils). Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest lists Argentina anserina as a strongly associated plant within the Columbia Basin, which, depending on the source, includes the Willamette Valley.

Nectar sources: it appears to have a strong affinity for aster species such as erigeron, pearly everlasting, senecio, yarrow. California records say it is strongly associated with these plants that are also native to our area: coyote brush as a nectar source, pearly everlasting, and Bidens frondosa.

West Coast Lady - Vanessa annabella

The West Coast Lady butterfly primarily uses mallow family plants (checkermallows in our area) along with stinging nettle.

Nectar: doesn’t seem to have any strong preferences.

Hoary Comma - Polygonia gracilis - synonym: Hoary Anglewing

This is a butterfly that has several host plants that are more common in higher elevation or east of the cascade areas. The one that definitely has a presence in the valley is Ribes lacustre, the swamp currant.

Nectar: this butterfly has a clear liking of pearly everlasting. Will also take in a wide range of yellow composite flowers.

Green Comma - Polygonia faunus - synonym: Green Anglewing

Host: this is a species that varies quite a bit depending on what source is used. Most sources agree that Willows are the top choice, with Salix sitchensis being noted as a favored source in Washington. The other top choice is alder species.

Nectar: this species does not feed extensively at flowers.

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell - Aglais milberti - synonym Nymphalis milberti
This butterfly has a sole host plant in our region of stinging nettles. Nectar: Particularly likes senecio and other yellow composites in general. Goldenrod, milkweed, pearly everlasting.

Satyr Angelwing - synonym Satyr Comma - Polygonia satyrus
This butterfly also has a sole host plant of stinging nettle. No flower preferences, it is more of a rotting fruit and sap feeder.

Western Meadow Fritilary - synonym Pacific Fritillary - Boloria epithore
The most common plant native to our region that this butterfly is seen hosting on is Stream Violet, Viola glabella. Also accepted are Evergreen Violet, Viola sempervirens and Viola adunca was reported in one of my references. It is likely that other violets are acceptable as well. Note that they likely require large patches of host plants. Nectar: has a particular affinity for valerian, followed by fleabanes and senecios.

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Season: April - June. Butterflies are non-migratory.

Host plants: two types of native paintbrush are historically used. But its main host plant at this time is a non-native species of plantain - called lanceleaf plantain or English plantain - Plantago lanceolata. I was surprised to read in the literature that it appears that this non-native plantain is being encouraged to grow at restoration sites. In this publication a photo of the plantains being raised is shown. This may be the food they are using for the captive rearing program rather than placing the plantains in the wild - I’m not sure.

Golden Paintbrush is a host that is used. Castilleja levisecta - a very rare plant that was once considered extinct in the state. It has since been reintroduced. Golden Paintbrush is not or is rarely available for sale.

Harsh Paintbrush - Castilleja Hispida is also used as a host. This is a much more widespread species and found quite a bit in our range. Seed and plant sources are uncommon, hopefully that will change. Steele Acres occasionally has seed available. Seablush Natives a newer nursery out of Damascus occasionally has plants as well as Sevenoaks, a commercial nursery out of Albany (they do have a fairly high minimum).

Castilleja species are known to be parasitic on particular plants. I don’t know enough about them to give advice on raising. It seems there is no shortage of the non-native plantains that they use.

Other potential hosts Rosy Plectritis - Plectritis Congesta and Collinsia. These are considered potential because a population is found in one of the Puget Sound areas, but the host plants they likely use in other places are barely present. Both of these species are annuals that drop seed late in the summer. They require cold stratification over the winter. They are supposed to reseed readily. Collinsea (Blue-eyed Mary) has done a bit better than Plectritis (Seablush) for me and I will be making a bigger effort to get sustaining populations in my 2027 garden.

Native nectar species “likely” used by this butterfly, as noted by IAE in one of their reports:
Collinsia parvifora Blue-eyed Mary
Calochortus tolmiei Tolmie's startulip
Fragaria virginiana (check out all the photos of this butterfly using this strawberry here).
Linanthus bicolor Babystars
Lomatium utriculatum - Spring Gold
Lomatium triternatum Nineleaf Biscuitroot
Plectritis congesta Seablush

Another interesting report of theirs studied nectar plants used in various locations. They use different plants as nectar, depending on location, showing adaptability.
Oregon locations:
Fragraria Virginiana - Virginia Strawberry was the main nectar species.
Lomatium Utriculatum - Spring Gold was another plant used.
Ranunculus occidentalis - Western Buttercup was another secondary plant used.
Washington (South Puget Sound):
Balsamorrhiza deltoidea - Deltoid Balsamroot was preferred over Virginia Strawberry.
Washington (Olympics):
Arctostaphylos columbiana - Hairy Manzanita - was a strongly preferred nectar source in this location.
Cryptantha intermedia - Common Cryptantha,
Berberis - Oregon Grape and
Virginia Strawberry were other nectar sources at this location.

I find it fascinating that Virginia Strawberry is specified as the nectar source that is most frequently used, when Woodland Strawberry appears to be so much more abundant, at least when spotted in the wild.

Other potential nectar sources include those that are heavily used by the main species, Edith’s Checkerspot: Buckwheat, Senecio, and Yarrow.

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I did not include extinct species.

I put all this together so that if one were to want to include specific plants in their gardens to support declining and at-risk butterfly species, this would be the list to work from. I’ve linked to separate articles where I have host and nectar plant information to share. I also have a few upcoming informational pieces I’m working on that will be good to have this overview established first.

The sources I am using to determine if the butterfly species resides in our range are: #2, 4, 7, 8, 11 & 13 on my lepidoptera reference list.

Species of Greatest Conservation Need - Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
The following species have been designated as needing immediate habitat preservation by the State of Oregon:
Dog Star Skipper/Sonoran Skipper (I’m working on gathering info for this species)
Fender’s Blue Butterfly
Johnson’s Hairstreak (I’m working on gathering more info for this species)
Monarch
Puget Sound Fritillary (a species listed in the previous State Wildlife Action Plan, according to some sources it is supposed to be included in the current SWAP)
Taylor’s Checkerspot

Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Zoology Species of Oregon
Oregon Biodiversity Information Center Portland State University 2025 report
The following species are specifically identified in the Willamette Valley ecoregion. The species identified here reflect the above State of Oregon list.
Dog Star Skipper/Sonoran Skipper (I’m working on gathering more info for this species)
Fender’s Blue
Johnson’s Hairstreak (I’m working on gathering more info for this species)
Monarch
Puget Sound Fritillary
Taylor’s Checkerspot

At-risk butterfly taxa in Oregon listed by Butterflies of Oregon: An Updated Atlas Honoring John Hinchliff - spiral bound books published 2026. Jeffrey C. Miller, et al.
This list is a little different than what you see above, but there is some overlap. Here is the description of at-risk species, per the authors:
”The purpose for these additional designations is to alert the public and government personnel that populations of certain species, not presently considered Endangered or Threatened, are in fact near a threshold where a shift in environmental conditions could result in a rapid decline in numbers and distribution range to a point of qualifying for Endangered or Threatened status.” I asked the author why there is a difference between what the state recognizes as at-risk and what they recognize, and the response was: “We specifically state our list is based on taxa with very low numbers of observations and very limited ranges and we do not submit these names as contradictions or a critique of other lists.”
All of the species listed below are specifically identified in the Willamette Valley ecoregion.
Fender’s Blue
Field Crescent (I’m working on gathering more info for this species)
Sonora Skipper ‘Willamette Valley’ (this is the same species as the Dog Star Skipper above, I’m working on gathering more information for this species)
Tailed Copper (I’m working on gathering more info for this species)
Taylor’s Checkerspot

Species of Greatest Information Need - Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
The State defines Species of Greatest Information Need or SGIN as “SGIN are species potentially vulnerable or of concern, but for which current data and understanding are scarce.” Note that the specific ecoregion that they are concerned about is not identified, but, the butterflies listed here reside in the Willamette Valley and thus potentially vulnerable.

An article dedicated to their host and nectar plant preferences is located here.
Clodius Parnassian
Clouded Sulphur
Green Comma/Angelwing
Hoary Comma/Angelwing
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell
Orange Sulphur
Pacific Fritillary/Western Meadow Fritillary
Purplish Copper
Sara Orangetip
Satyr Angelwing
West Coast Lady

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation - State of the Butterflies in the United States
The following species are identified as declining rapidly in the above-linked 2025 report. The area identified is specific to the Pacific Northwest, but the area of concern is not identified exactly as the Willamette Valley. The butterflies I pulled from that list do reside in the valley and thus potentially vulnerable. Note that they reflect the State of Oregon SGIN list above almost exactly, except that the Green Comma was not identified. Also of note, the West Coast Lady was not identified in the northwest as declining, but was in the Southwest region.
Clodius Parnassian
Clouded Sulphur
Hoary Comma/Angelwing
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell
Orange Sulphur
Pacific Fritillary/Western Meadow Fritillary
Purplish Copper
Sara Orangetip
Satyr Angelwing/Comma
Sonoran Skipper/Dog Star Skipper

More info coming soon.

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1. Calscape | California’s Native Plant Gardening Destination, https://calscape.org/.

2. Butterflies and Moths of North America | collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org.

3. PNW Moths | Homepage, Western Washington University, https://pnwmoths.biol.wwu.edu/.

4. Bjorklund, Neil Henning. www.butterfliesoforegon.com.

5. Caldwell, Jeffrey Allen. “California Plants as Resources for Lepidoptera:

   a guide for gardeners, restorationists and naturalists.” Santa Clara Native Plant Society. Link.

6. “Invertebrates – State Wildlife Action Plan.” Oregon’s conservation, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, https://swap.oregon.gov/swap-sgcn/invertebrates/.

7. James, David G., and David Nunnallee. Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies. Oregon State University Press, 2011.

8. Lane County Butterfly Club. “An Oregon Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association.” https://www.lanebutterflies.org/.

9. Laney, Jesse, et al. “Rare, Threatened and Endangered Zoology Species of Oregon (2025).” PDX Scholar, no. 2025. Link.

10. Leckie, Seabrooke. Moths of Western North America. Princeton University Press, 2026.

11. Miller, Jeffrey C., et al. Butterflies of Oregon: An Updated Atlas Honoring John Hinchliff. vol. 1, 2, Corvallis, Miller Scientific, 2026.

12. “Oregon Flora.” OregonFlora Home, Oregon State University, https://oregonflora.org/.

13. Pyle, Robert Michael, and Caitlin C. LaBar. Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, 2018.

14. Shapiro, Art. Art Shapiro’s Butterfly Site, University of California, Davis, https://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/.

15. Turner, Mark. “Turner Photographics Wildflowers.” www.pnwflowers.com

    

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Donations: the information that is provided here is free for gardeners of all financial means. I feel that those who have the least resources are those who need this information most. If you find this information useful and are able, consider financially supporting myself and my family, by making a one-time donation or monthly subscriptions on this link. Thank you SO much to the folks that have supported me. Your contributions mean so much!

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After 3 years in the ground, Columbia Giant blackberry is fruiting quite heavily.

I’m happy with this plant. Though, I am a little bummed they are not sweeter for fresh eating. It seems when I have had them at a farm near me that has all-day sun they seem to be tastier. Nonetheless, they are quite good. The vines are thornless and absolutely loaded with fruit. They will likely make an excellent low sugar jam, though I still have a ton of jam leftover from previous year collecting wild blackberries so these are likely to end up in smoothies.

Brown Rot of Pluots returned

Last year I reported that I had an awful time with brown rot on my pluots. I asked several experts in the area about how to effectively treat the issue. I was hoping to get a consensus from them, but everyone that I asked had a different answer. The treatment that I tried was copper, as it is the one that I have on hand.

Sadly I don’t think the treatment put a dent in the issue. Yesterday I noticed the first of the infected bunch. When I went back this morning and looked closer, there were about 10 pounds that I had to remove from the tree and placed in the trash.

When I asked about this issue I had asked for proper timing of controls. I was deferred to the manufacturer’s recommendations. I read the instructions and it said to spray during flowering, and that I can (optional?) spray two to three weeks before harvest. Typical harvest time is August, so I thought I was too early to address, but I did a very thorough job during flowering.

Looking around on the internet now I can see that there is a chart that lists fungicide effectiveness by University of California specific to brown rot, and copper is listed as entirely ineffective. The other fungicide mentioned by this same person (sulfur) has a rating of 1/5 for effectiveness (which I take to mean it is nearly ineffective).

All of the other fungicides mentioned on this list are chemicals that are unfamiliar with that I am not entirely sure that I am comfortable spraying at home. Very intimidating technical details and steep pricing… not to mention I have no idea what kind of impact the sprays have on human health or my habitat. Bummer.

It may be that having majority apricot parentage of this tree makes it highly susceptible to the disease. The sulfur and other treatments may be more effective against cultivars of plums that aren’t so impacted by the disease.

Though I find the flavor of fresh pluots quite delicious, I don’t like them for any other purpose. They do not dry well, nor do they cook well.

I’m going to try paying very close attention to this tree and culling any brown rot infected plums immediately, but this tree may be on the chopping block. Though I have not noticed any other plums being infected at this time, the last thing I want to do is create a disease vector for the plums I intend to use for storage purposes (drying/jam/freezing, etc).

Pearleaf Blister Mite possible success treatment story

A few months ago I reported on a Conference pear that I had ordered for my orchard that was sent to me with a bad infestation of Pear Blister Mites. Initially I decided I was going to cull the tree, since there was no treatment available at that specific time of year and I did not want an uncontrollable infection to spread to my other healthy pear trees. However, I really want a disease resistant winter-storage pear in my orchard, so I decided one last drastic move to get control of the problem. Removal of all of the infected foliage, with the foliage being thrown in the trash and removed off site. After the tree pumped out new growth, a few more infected leaves showed up, but only a few. Those were removed as well and all newest growth looks good.

Happy to report, there is now no sign of the infection on the tree, though the tree is likely set back considerably and I will have to wait even longer for fruit than I otherwise would.

As I mentioned previously, there are no sprays that can treat the mites while they are in-between layers of foliage like this, and my previous attempt to spray at the correct time (when the leaves are falling and they are migrating into the buds) did not work at all.

Fingers crossed, it seems my rogue treatment may have done the trick.

Izu Persimmon died

Two seasons ago I planted an Izu Persimmon in my front yard. The tree did look a little wimpy when I planted it, but, it seems to have persisted ok for a year. This year it didn’t leaf out at all and croaked. No idea what happened to it. Some day I may try again, as it would be fantastic to have a crisp non-astringent variety of persimmon in my collection… then again I’ve got 3 other persimmons (1 American and 2 astringent Asians), with one of them mature and giving me a ton of fruit already.

Deer eating apple trees

Sad to report that the deer have been heavily munching through the orchard this year. They do usually come through a few times a year, and I notice a little munching which does not bother me tremendously.

I don’t typically mind and am happy to share. But this year seems to be the worst. Last year there was a ton of logging done surrounding my property, and all understory vegetation was ripped out as part of the process. I suspect the deer lost much of their food browse, and they headed straight for the only lush green area within their browse height.

Luckily I have quite a few mature, full-sized trees that the deer don’t touch. Wish I had known that deer have a preference for smaller trees back when I had planned my orchard. Back before I knew this, I had planned on keeping much smaller trees in order to avoid getting on a ladder for any kind of tree work. Several of my apple trees are on super small dwarfing root stock. Others I had been keeping small.

While it is true that getting on a ladder is kind of a pain, I’ve found a middle ground in using a much smaller step ladder.

Thus far, the deer have not really gone for any of the younger plums, persimmons, or pears. Apple seems to be the favorite. They have nibbled on a small grape but left the larger, taller, out of reach ones alone. They also seem to enjoy native shrubs that I have cut down to the ground and let regrow - the tender newest foliage is apparently quite yummy.

Summer Blood Birne pear removed

Also… since I had initially planned on keeping my trees small, they were planted a little too close together. I have culled some but was waiting to see how Summer Blood Birne european pear did this year. It decided to not flower and fruit again this year, and is way too close to my reliable Orcas pear, so I decided to remove it completely.

As mentioned, Orcas pear is super reliable so it became priority for me. But Summer Blood Birne is pretty much an unknown - I don’t know of anyone who has grown and had success with this tree in our region, and I haven’t tasted it to confirm it tastes good. It has been in the ground several years with no fruiting. That said, it is still painful to cull trees.

Franquette English Walnut planted

The only new addition to my orchard this year has been an English Walnut. I chose Franquette for its known reliability in our area, and the fact that it happens to be self-fertile. I didn’t know until I dug into the soil that it is particularly wet in that region. We will see how the tree does.

Krymskaya Quince did not set fruit

The young Krymskaya quince that flowered a few months ago decided not to set the fruit. That’s probably a good thing, as it is advisable to not allow young trees to set fruits (supposedly it will set their growth back).

Currants and gooseberries

Lastly, it has been interesting to note that the birds have largely left my currants alone this year. Normally the shrubs are completely stripped of fruit. They did still strip off all of my gooseberries, which is too bad, because I like them considerably better than currants, even though I chose the reportedly tastiest variety of currants.

They left almost all of the white currants alone, and they left quite a few black currant and red. I find the Gloire de Sablon variety of red currant somewhat tastier than this white (Primus?) currant. But only moderately so.

What’s new in your orchard this year?

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They are numerous this year likely because their main host plants, thistles (native and non—native) populations have exploded after logging took place. Canadian/Spreading thistle, Cirsium arvense, is a non-native noxious weed considered rather invasive, and it is spreading considerably. Though it is a host to butterflies, it is quite a bully and tends to choke out other desirable plants. On a happier note, Cirsium brevysylum, a gentle native, has also made sizable patches this year.

Back in May I noticed a particularly cute, but very small native annual wildflower, called Acmispon parviflorus, or Small-Flowered Lotus. This plant intrigued me as I know that Lotus plants are host to several butterflies in the Willamette Valley.

Initially I was skeptical about collecting this seed, as I figured that this tiny little plant is unlikely to provide much foliage for butterflies to sustain themselves. There are several other Lotus species in our area that are bigger plants, and I just assumed that those would be more useful. But I also noted that a very small similar species, Spanish Clover, Acmispon americanus is a confirmed host to Persius Duskywing. And I read recently that Spanish Clover is considered a most useful butterfly plant by Art Shapiro, noted in Jeffrey Allen Caldwell’s writeup of California plants for gardeners (note, for some reason this link is broken - the main website of California Native Plant is down - hopefully it will be fixed).

Fascinating to note that Spanish Clover also occupies this very same habitat and just a few feet away, but has different bloom times.

I did decide to collect seed from one of the Small-flowered Lotus several weeks ago, and when I went to check on it yesterday, I had a lovely surprise in the seed collection bag.

As I mentioned, I was initially skeptical that this tiny, puny little plant could be terribly useful to butterflies. But this caterpillar’s presence was almost like a sign from the universe to not discount the importance of small Lotus plants. My caterpillar ID skills are pretty much non-existent, but it does look like several of the butterfly caterpillars that are known to host on Lotus.

The foliage of Small-flowered Lotus has completely died back at this time and barely even noticeable. Spanish Clover is still flowering and fresh foliage available for wildlife.

I don’t know of a seed source for Small-flowered Lotus, but the similar Spanish Clover is available through Northwest Meadowscapes. See this post for more info about Lotus and pics of Spanish Clover in other gardens.

Lastly, I for the first time noticed blooming Columbia Lilies in the forest behind me.

The area where these popped up surprised me, as I have been using this particular trail for nearly 17 years. It was logged approx four years ago. I can’t be sure I just hadn’t noticed them before, but considering that much of the vegetation had been sprayed and many things have died off since the logging, I suspect that these popped up after the trees were removed.

When I see these in the wild, they are usually significantly higher in elevation, so I was surprised to see them here. The areas I have noticed them before seem to have considerably higher shade, whereas these are in full sun. The soil is rocky and very duffy.

Though these are widely available at native nurseries, as far as I can tell no one has successfully grown them in their home gardens. I attempted to plant one once, and it succumbed to something. Folks have told me all manner of wildlife enjoy this plant: slugs on the foliage, rodents at the roots, deer at the flowers. I’ll be paying attention and attempting to collect a few seeds to see if I can get them to germinate and persist here at home, since it is clearly adapted to persist here.

This is a plant that Pale Tiger and Western Tiger Swallowtails adore, as well as our declining Rufous Hummingbird. Would be nice to crack the code and see if we can get it to persist in our habitats.

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Where it occurs naturally around here, it seems to favor areas that are in dappled shade to partial sun. Where I see it in full sun, it seems stressed and grows smaller, but it seems perfectly willing to survive there.

I have never watered any of my fall/winter planted Oceanspray plants and they seem to thrive on neglect.

Division propagation: I had three shrubs that exist on this property naturally. One of them I dug and moved to a more prominent location. When I did so, I divided it into several plants. Those plants quickly grew. I didn’t quite realize how quickly they would grow, nor how large they could potentially be. In optimal conditions they really want to be 10’ tall and up to 12’ wide. Naturally I ended up needing to move the shrubs I had initially placed. Though they are a bit of work to move, they transplant really well. When I transplanted them again last year, I again divided them and made more plants. The divisions are again thriving.

Seed propagation: according to the US Forest service, this plant produces copious quantities of non-viable seed, and only about 7% of them will germinate. Following that, only about 75% of sprouted seeds go on to become mature plants. Though seed is available for this species, I would expect only a plant or two out of a packet of seed.

Cuttings: The University of Washington reports that semi softwood cuttings taken in summer are the propagation method of choice.

Tip-layering: I have tried tip-layering this shrub a few times, but the hard stems are difficult to get down to the ground level and the tips died off instead of rooting. I may have tried with too hard of wood. The new growth on this division has quite a bit of particularly soft wood this year, so I may try again. I’d prefer to find a method of propagating this shrub that doesn’t require fussing with soil input or watering. Or a ton of digging.

Note that a wholesale nursery near me sells gallon plants to the public for $2.75 each when they are in stock. If I didn’t already have this plant on site, this would be a super economical way to get started. Otherwise they are relatively inexpensive to buy at most nurseries that stock native plants.

Ethnobotanical uses: super interesting to note that this plant is also known as Ironwood, because of its extremely hard wood. Native Americans made it into all manner of tools. Before the invention of nails, it was used as such hardware. Apparently curing it over a fire makes the wood even harder, and is fire resistant. There are all sorts of modern applications where I find this could be useful, particularly as garden stakes, trellises, etc. Currently I am using Pacific Ninebark in that way, but, have also learned that Ninebark roots readily if the stem is still alive, so it is best to harvest the stems and let them cure for awhile unless you want a whole farm of Ninebark.

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Here are a few notes on various seedlings that I haven’t discussed as much as other plants recently. Birds (or possibly chipmunks) chomping my seedlings seem to be my main problem, followed by slugs eating seedlings. I believe the birds plaguing me the most this year are the White and Gold Crowned Sparrow, as they are known to eat seedlings. We also have a high population this year of various Finches, which are also known to also eat seedlings (they particularly like mature sunflower foliage as well). Neither type of bird are constant visitors in my garden, so they may be less of an issue next year. With the slugs, I’m thinking the lack of freezing weather didn’t knock back their populations as much as is usual.

I wonder if next year my results may be completely different.

Asclepias speciosa - showy milkweed

Milkweed I seeded out 12/27. I believe all of the seedlings came up. Other than slugs getting to some of them, they seem rather easy to get started. I didn’t do any kind of pre-treatment other than seeding them late December, which is way simpler than what most people say Milkweed seed needs to break dormancy.

Since slugs are less likely to attack mature plants, it seems the trick to getting these going might be to grow these rather large, maybe even a year or two (definitely larger than what is in the photo - I planted out one bigger than these and it was eaten).

Red Columbine - Aquilegia Formosa

Our native red Columbine has been easy to start from seed, but I lost about half of my seedlings to birds before I found them and put them in a cage to keep them protected. Word is that slugs seem to like them quite a bit too, so slug protection is also necessary.

Hemp Dogbane - Apocynum Cannibium

Dogbanes are a high priority species for me, and I ordered both seeds and a start this year. Right about the same time the seedlings started popping up, I also noticed the plant that I had set out starting to send out shoots. Unfortunately they disappeared quickly. Dogbanes are in the same family as milkweed, and my guess is the slugs got to them rather quickly. I’ll be pricking out these seedlings and growing them on to rather large sizes before attempting to set out.

Agastache Urticifolia - Horsemint

This “native” doesn’t occur west of the cascades, but it is known as an outstanding nectar source for butterflies, so I wanted to give it a shot. Unfortunately it is very susceptible to slugs unlike most mints. I set out a rather large 4” pot and it was devoured rather quickly. I’ll be attempting to keep my remaining seedlings out of slug zone until rather large, and then attempt to plant out again. I may wait until we have a significant freeze event, knocking the slugs back considerably. If they appear to still be slug targets, I’ll be growing these as a potted plant up on my deck, which is far less traveled by slugs.

Asclepias incarnata - swamp milkweed - not native in the valley, but native to much of the United States.

Like showy milkweed, this one seems rather easy to get going. I got a packet from Johnny’s on 1/31. The instructions say they will germinate up to three weeks at indoor temperatures - which surprised me - I thought they would need a period of cold stratification. They failed to germinate within those three weeks, even though I kept them indoors for weeks at a constant temp of around 70, like the instructions on the packet say.

I placed the pots outside, assuming that the instructions were incorrect and I needed cold stratify them. To my surprise, they came up a few weeks later!

Arrow leaf Buckwheat - Eriogonum compositum

Much to my surprise, arrowleaf buckwheat has been incredibly simple to start from seed. Late winter I noticed a few seed heads on my plants, and decided there was no harm in attempting to put them into some gritty potting soil to see if they would come up . A few weeks later they came right up (most natives need a much longer cold stratification period). I lost a few of them when they were quite small, I suspect that was the hungry birds. Slugs appear completely uninterested in these seedlings, nor any other Eriogonum species I have had experience with. Could buckwheats be particularly slug resistant? That would be neat, considering they are highly useful butterfly host and nectar plants.

Celery-leaf lovage - Ligusticum apiifolium

Remember the other day when I spotted some of these in the woods, then mentioned I had about 10 seedlings going? When I checked on them this morning it appears a bird has gotten to the seedlings, and now there are only a few left (the biggest in the lower left corner).

My fingers are showing the stem of the chomped off seed heads of celery-leaf lovage.

Note that this species is super erratic in germination, and it came up the latest out of all the seedlings here. Initially I thought these seeds had failed, but they did come up very late in the year.

Agoseris grandiflora - California dandelion - big flower dandelion

Grand agoseris has been rather easy to get going from seed, but the birds also really like it. This is the only one left. This one seems to not need any cold stratification, so I may start some more soon.

American Vetch - Vicia americana

This plant has been very easy to start from seed - if they are kept away from hungry birds. I actually germinated some of these indoors this winter after a short period of cold stratification outdoors. They came right up, and when I popped them back outside after outgrowing their light source - no hardening off - they persisted just fine even after experiencing freezing weather multiple times.

But the starts that I left outdoors to come up naturally and the ones I direct seeded had their heads chomped off by birds.

When I planted out the seedlings that had been kept away from birds they were not happy, and started dying off very quickly. Having observed them in the wild behind my home, I figured out that the main difference between where I was planting them and where they were coming up in the wild is that I was attempting to put them in substantial sun, whereas in the woods they seem to be naturally occurring where they get dappled shade. I salvaged two of the plants up and potted them, put them where they get no more than two hours of strong sun, and they started growing vigorously again. Then the birds found them.

You can also see some slug damage in this photo. They did get a bit of slug damage when I planted them out, but it was fairly minimal and I figured they could outgrow this stage. They did. But, the birds have set them back badly as they mowed down all of the new growth.

This is a phenomenon I have noticed multiple times with this species of plant, and another grower of native plants has reported the same thing this year. If these plants do bounce back and seem ready to plant - this time in a shady spot - they will get a cage for protection.

This might be a good contender for direct sowing, with a cage around the seedlings. I would even leave the cage around them for the full growing season, as the tendrils would probably grow right through the openings, then when the plant dies back for the year, the cage might be able to be removed.

Big Deervetch - lotus crassifolius - Hosackia Crassifolia

Big Deervetch has been a bit difficult to get established. This is what remains out of the entire packet of seed that I sowed. I am beginning to think they have a low germination rate, and that I did make a couple of mistakes.

The first was that I sowed these fairly late in late December. They may prefer much longer stratification periods. I also brought some of these indoors about a month after sowing to see if some of them would germinate at room temperatures. They did not. I didn’t keep good track of them afterward, but I believe those pots that I brought indoors for a few weeks did not germinate at all after I set them back outside.

These also suffered a bit of bird damage. The small seedling in front is rebounding from that, but a few outright died.

Note that there is significant yellowing on the lower leaves. Typically this is indicative of nitrogen deficiency. I gave them a weak fish emulsion solution to see if they would perk up, but there may be some other reason that they are translocating the nitrogen out of the oldest leaves… or perhaps I am misreading the situation. I will keep you posted.

Also, this may be coincidental, but I am seeing that this species seems to likes being crowded next to its neighbor. That seems to be a common theme with legumes - you can see in the above photo of American Vetch that it is quite happy with several seedlings all crammed together. Next year I will do some experimenting with seeding several versus few in a pot.

However, next year I’ll be trying hard to get the closely related Hosackia rosea to germinate in lieu of this one, since that is the species that is adapted very close to me in the forest. Being so closely related it is likely to have similar germination quirks.

Sickle-keeled lupine - Lupinus Albicaulus

In mid-march I cold stratified a few sickle-keeled lupine in my refrigerator for 30 days, then planted them indoors under grow lights. They came up rather quickly. Unfortunately there weren’t many in the packet. I planted out about half of what was in the packet, which ended up being roughly 10 seeds. Only two came up, which is about what the literature says is normal for their germination rate. This is a species that is an alternate host for Fender’s Blue butterfly, threatened in our region. See this post for more info. I struggle with lupines due to strong slug predation, but those who have less of an issue than I do may want to give this one a try. Just be aware that there is a low germination rate and not many that come in the package.

Bigleaf lupine and Broadleaf lupine

I’ve complained about the slug damage on both types of lupine so I probably don’t need to repeat myself on that one. Both types of lupines are slug candy.

A new issue has popped up, with this yellowing, or chlorosis of the newest leaves. This is a sudden change, as the plants didn’t start showing this issue until like a week ago. Typically when you see this it is indicative of a lack of iron in the soil (unlike nitrogen where the oldest leaves are most affected), or possibly something that is causing the plant to not take up iron (like overwatering). I would think if it was truly a lack of iron in the soil it wouldn’t be such a sudden issue. We did recently have quite a bit of moisture and cool conditions. But the plants that are most affected were the ones that had been mowed down by slugs, so I’m wondering if that’s somehow a factor (transmission of a pathogen?). We’ll see how they turn out.

Canary violet - Viola praemorsa

Canary violets have been fairly easy to grow, except that the slugs do get to them a bit. I have kept them up on wooden planks off the ground, which has done a decent job of limiting slugs but there are still some losses. This is the worst affected tray.

They seem to be unimpacted by birds. Next year I will be growing out the various other types of violets I have been collecting seed from (evergreen, glabella, and howellii violets). All of these are more shade loving so they will go up on my shadier deck, which is elevated above the ground and less traveled by slugs.

Yarrow - Achillea Millefolium

Yarrow was seeded outdoors late December, and surprisingly came up within a few days. This is one that I pushed along a bit, by bringing the seedlings indoors under my grow lights when I had room. They responded great and grew vigorously.

I’ve struggled to get yarrow established here in the past. It seems to prefer significantly looser soil than what most of my native soil is comprised of. Where the soil is compacted, it struggles badly, and the slugs seem particularly fond of it when it is stressed. But they don’t touch it in this location that opened up after I removed blackberry, where the soil is rather friable. Happy to see it putting out its first bloom.

Gaillardia Aristata - blanket flower

I started a whole bunch of gaillardia last year. They came up super easy. Planted them out in the fall, and the majority did not come back. I have noticed quite a bit of slug damage on the plants that did come back, the other small plants might have gotten consumed. Perhaps coddling it along and planting it out the following fall would have been better. Then again maybe they would still be slug candy at that time.

Grindelia integrifolia - Gumweed

Gumweed/grindelia has been particularly easy to start from seed. These I pushed along indoors a bit as well, and they grow vigorously at 70 degree temps. I planted a couple several weeks ago as a test, but they succumbed to slugs rather quickly. They were the size of 4” plants. I did this last year with a few 4” starts that I bought, and they grew vigorously without slug issues. What a difference a year with no winter freezes makes! The remainder of the plants I started are now growing vigorously in gallon pots, and I may wait to plant them out in the fall.

Spanish clover - Acmispon americanus is a seed that I acquired rather late in the year, so I only tried growing a few and saved the rest for next year. To my surprise they came up rather easily, having no dormant season at all. I planted them out and they appear to be completely slug resistant.

American yellow rocket - an annual I attempted to grow at the same time as Spanish clover, saving most for next year. It must have need for a cold period, as mine did not come up. Will try again next year.

Lomatium Utriculatum - Spring gold

Lomatium has been super easy to start from seed. It was one of the very first seedlings to come up this year. Unfortunately, the seedlings are also bird favorites. The birds have repeatedly attacked these seedlings, which makes me feel that they are a favorite food source of birds.

Winecup Clarkia - Clarkia rhomboidea

This is an annual that is supposed to reseed itself each year. I started some from seed in pots last year and transplanted out, they didn’t do very well. So I tossed the rest of the seed outside in the hopes that they might do better that way. A few of them did come up for me, but not as much as I had hoped. We will see if they persist next year.

Nodding bur-marigold - Nodding Beggarstics - Bidens cernua is an annual that is supposed to self-seed. I tossed seed around areas where it is likely to do well, but have not yet seen any come up. My understanding is that they flower fairly late in the year, so I may not have seen them yet.

Pacific snakeroot - Sanicula crassicaulis

Pacific Snakeroot was super easy to start from seed, but I messed up and put them in the wrong size pot. They were little cells, two inches in height. When I went to pot them up, I found they had a pretty long taproot for their size.

I decided to try transplanting them directly out, to see how they would fare in lieu of putting them into deep pots. They disappeared almost immediately. Considering that other carrot family plants (lomatium, celery-leaf lovage) are targets of birds, I suspect this one requires coddling along in a slug-free, bird-free location until mature. They are mature plants in the forest behind my home.

Collinsia grandiflora - large-flowered Blue eyed Mary - this is an annual that is said to self sow each year. I just tossed seed around. Only two or three came up. Hopefully they come back next year.

Cow parsnip - Heracleum maximum is a biennial that supposedly reseeds itself. I tossed seed around to locations it likely would come up, hoping that it would find a spot it likes and persist on its own. I have yet to notice any seedlings, but it is early yet.

Plectritis congesta - Seablush - an annual that is supposed to reseed itself. I tossed around a packed of seed in areas it is supposed to like, and have not seen any flowers. It should have flowered by now. This is my second attempt with this flower and I think it is likely too slug sensitive for my location.

Meadow checkermallow - Sidalcea campestris

Meadow checkermallow was super easy to start from seed and did not appear susceptible to any of the usual predators. They grew large enough to fill out a 4” pot by the first week in June, and were transplanted out.

They are growing rather vigorously, even during the heat wave. Easy!

Fragrant popcorn flower - Plagiobothrys Figuratis - an annual that reseeds in locations it likes. I have not seen any seedlings, but I may not have noticed them yet. Note that I did plant a start of this last year, and it did suffer quite a bit of slug damage. I saw some flowers but haven’t yet seen seedlings. I suspect my second attempt will also not be successful.

Collomia Grandiflora - Grand Collomia - this is one that is known to not transplant well, so I made sure to buy seeds. I set out several patches of seeds. One of them I placed a chicken wire cage over to keep birds off. I believe I saw a few come up and then disappeared. Likely slugs. Also of note last year I did purchase one as a start. As noted it did not do well, failed to flower and died.

Verbena hastata - Blue vervain

This plant has been super easy to grow from seed. I did plant one out last year as a start and found it particularly easy to get established, and it is seeding around. It’s about to put on a big floral show, so I will be sure to get some photos to update here.

I wanted to make sure that I’ve got quite a bit of this plant, as verbenas are well known as excellent butterfly nectar resources, and I’ve got lots of room for this wetland plant. I put these on top of an old unused water collection barrel eyesore because the water pools a bit, perfect for this wetland plant. Note that a slug did find its way there, but no slug damage has been found on these seedlings or on my mature plants.

Most were transplanted out 6/15/2026.

Overall, I’d say that the process for starting native seeds has been vastly easier than I expected, except for the bird and slug issue. The three requirements seem to be:
-an appropriate starting medium
-patience, as many seeds require cold periods to break dormancy, many are best planted in fall
-bird & slug protection until mature, which could vary a bit year to year.

Have you tried growing any native seeds? What did you have success with?

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Celery-leaved licorice root

This is the first time I have noticed this umbel in the wild. I suspect that I have seen them before and just thought they were the weedy Queen Ann’s Lace. But when I spotted it from a distance I knew for sure it couldn’t be Queen Ann’s - as most of the Queen Ann’s are just now starting their spring growth cycle.

Growing conditions: all day sun. There was only this small patch, with no other seedlings around. I suspect the soil is rather moist despite being in all-day sun, as there are several other moisture loving species growing nearby. For some reason I had the impression that this plant likes quite a bit of shade, but that does not appear to be the case in the wild.

I sourced seed of this particular plant from Willamette Wildings and am attempting to grow it this year. It was one of the very last seeds of several natives that popped up, and, has a very low germination rate, and grows rather slowly. Out of a packet of seeds, I probably got ten seedlings. Hopefully that will be enough to get a colony started here.

Riverbank Lupine

I have never seen a lupine in the wild nearby, and was super surprised to see a few riverbank lupines pop up! There are only a couple, but they are there.

I struggle with lupines pretty badly on my property, as they seem to be the food of choice for slugs. I note that other gardeners in the Willamette Valley seem to have better success with riverbank lupine persisting in their garden. Though it is one of the shorter lived lupines, often dying after its second year, it creates a huge quantity of seedlings.

I wonder if this particular lupine is somewhat slug resistant. I do have a plant that is currently flowering, but most of the plant has been munched down by slugs. It looks like this plant is setting copious seed. I will have to collect some of this seed and see how they fare here. Perhaps this is a selection that is even less susceptible to slug damage.

Dogbane

Last year I noticed several - maybe 10 - patches of spreading dogbane pop up. This year, I don’t know if quite a few of them died off, or if they just aren’t as noticeable yet. This does seem like a particularly early bloom time, as I feel like whenever I have noticed them in the past they were blooming in July.

This plant is high on my radar, as it scored exceptionally high as a butterfly nectar source when I did the butterfly nectar project. I collected seed last year but never did get around to trying to grow it out. I will definitely do so this year.

I’m not sure why this one is not in cultivation. If you ever get a chance to smell the flowers you should - they smell remarkably like lilac.

Mock Orange

Around here, I have only seen Mock Orange once in the wild, which happens to be on my property. It is in my wetland, in part shade, and was hiding under a huge colony of invasive blackberry.

I have also planted multiple mock oranges, and notice that they do way better where they get more moisture. In fact, they simply refuse to bloom where they don’t get enough moisture. This is contrary to a lot of garden literature that say that this is a drought adapted, dryland species. Around here, I suspect that the strains that are found here are adapted to do better with some water.

At first the plant I observed today appears to be growing in a fairly dry location. But there are several wetland species nearby: mature willows and ash saplings, suggesting perhaps an underground spring or some other water source nearby. Also, the loggers placed tall stacks of logs right up to the stem of the shrub, acting as a super deep mulch.

Prunella vulgaris

There is a ton of confusing information as to whether the prunella we encounter all over the place are native, non-native, or hybrid. They say that the longer-leaved “lance” shape leaves indicate that it is native, yet, I have looked at images in herbariums and find they don’t match what is written on paper. I suspect there are epigenetic factors are at play: I find all prunella species growing in hot, all-day sun have long lance-shaped leaves with big/copious flowers, while those growing in shade have much wider leaves and smaller, more sparse flowers.

I have quite a few prunella, possibly the “weedy” non-native kind growing on my property, and attempted to grow the species identified as native. The native did send up some spectacular blooms like this, but did not come back the following year.

I suspect that either species functions similarly in the ecological niche. People ask all the time in forums if their Prunella are the native or not. I don’t think it is easy to figure out. Unless we find out there is a specialized insect that can only make use of the fully native species, I won’t bother with really trying to identify every single plant. There are plants that are much bigger problems that are higher priority species for removal on my property.

Slender Tarweed

The tarweed most of us are familiar with its Madia Elegans, also known as common madia. I haven’t seen it in the wild. I did grow it here in the garden one year, but the flowers I attempted to collect from did not set seed, and the remainder of the flowers didn’t seed around like they are supposed to. Too bad, it is a really pretty plant.

There are two tarweeds that grow in the forest behind me, Madia gracilis, which is blooming now, and Madia madioides, the woodland Madia, which, if I recall correctly, doesn’t start blooming until a few weeks from now. I collected quite a few seeds last year and tossed them around, and am happy to report that I have noticed some of them popping up.

Cirsium brevistylum

This year I’ve noticed a ton of native thistles popping up, both in my garden and in the forest behind me. I’m watching them closely to learn more about them and to collect seed for myself and interested friends. I’m finding much literature that much of our native fauna rely on thistles in particular. Stay tuned as I collect more information.

Rosa rubiginosa

This pretty shrub popped up seemingly out of nowhere. I was very sad to learn it is an exotic species. According to my friend Dii, it is spreading quite a bit in areas of Clackamas county, potentially becoming a problematic invasive.

Aquilegia Formosa

Red columbine appears to be a common species, and yet, it doesn’t seem that way in the forest. As long as I have been going back here, I have only found a few locations of this plant. Of course, I have no way of scouring the 600 acres of forest back there, but my walk range does cover quite a bit of it. Out of all of those areas, I know of only 3 plants. That’s it.

As you can see from the above photo, the scotch broom is heavily setting seed nearby, which may choke out this little plant. Too bad.

I started quite a few red Columbine from seed this year. They germinate well, but the seedlings are favorites of birds and I lost half of them before I discovered them being eaten. They also happen to be slug candy. I’m currently growing mine up on a chicken-wire cage, up on my deck, where slugs are less likely to visit.

Note that red columbine appear to be long-lived plants. I’ve had one plant that has been growing over 10 years. Some gardeners report that it spreads around quite a bit. They must not have the same population of birds and slugs that I do that devour the seedlings here and around me in the forest.

Note that red columbine is well known to hybridize with non-native columbines, and in this case, evidence exists that it does matter, as they are quite a bit different than our native columbines. Non-natives are generally easy to distinguish and remove, should you wish to save your own seed and grow more columbines, as I intend to do.

Our native red columbines are a target species to increase for me. They are known to be a plant that our declining Rufous Hummingbird rely on. And when I investigated nectar plants for our regional butterflies, I found quite a few Western Tiger Swallowtail and Pale Tiger Swallowtail use red columbines specifically as a nectar source - but no photos of the non-native varieties.

Eurybia radulina

This aster is a new-to-me species. There is a small patch of it that popped up in the woods. My friend Dii informed me that this is a species they’ve worked hard at getting into the nursery trade, as it grows well in dry shade. I look forward to observing it further, and possibly collecting seed.

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I have written about multiple declining bumble bees in our region once before, but I was surprised to see in the recently released update of the Oregon State Wildlife Action Plan (also known as SWAP) that there is only one bee, Bombus occidentalis, the Western Bumble Bee, that is currently listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need specifically in the Willamette Valley ecoregion. I don’t know why those other bumble bees aren’t listed, but I thought since this one is definitely needing help in our region, I would take a break from researching and writing about butterflies to highlight needs of this particular species.

Bumblebee Importance

I want to take a moment to highlight that bumble bees conservation is of particular interest to humans. Though bumble bees are insects that pollinate a wide variety of flowers, there are certain families of human food crops that require the type of buzz-pollination that is only performed by bumblebees. The Vaccinium family, which most of us know as blueberries and cranberries, are one. The other major one most of us know is the nightshade family: tomato, eggplant, pepper, tomatillo, ground cherry, etc. And apparently cucurbits - which include squash, cucumber, and melon - also benefit from buzz pollination that only bumblebees offer.

History of the Western Bumblebee

The story of the Western Bumble Bee: my understanding is that this particular bee used to be the most common bumble bee encountered in our region. According to the Xerces Society, this bee was selected as being particularly good at pollinating greenhouse tomatoes and other crops grown indoors. An overseas commercial bumblebee breeding company took notice and exported them for a breeding program. When the bees came back, they brought a virulent strain of a pathogen with them, which spread to our wild bees when they were released. Some species of our native bees picked up the strain and act as vectors. Most of those bees are unimpacted, but the Western Bumblebee which definitely is, and has suffered dramatic decline since that time.

Impacts of Honeybees

According to the Species Fact Sheet attached to our State Wildlife Action Plan, honeybees are also at odds with the Western Bumble Bee in a couple of ways. Honeybees spread pathogens, one of which is RNA viruses, to our resident bees. Honey bees also hog a lot of the nectar and pollen, leaving little food for our wild bees. One of the recommendations in the fact sheet is to make sure no managed honeybee apiaries are located within 4 miles of known Western Bumble Bee locations.

Range/Identification/Monitoring

Most of the known current range is higher in elevation, though they used to exist nearly all over the state. Note that there are a few observations in the Willamette Valley recently. I assume there are additional locations researchers don’t know about. The known locations map is included on page 17 of the Species Fact Sheet.

Researchers would like to know when you see one, so that they can track the range and protect known locations. I find Bumblebee identification quite difficult, but it appears to me that identification of queens of this species are simpler than for other bumbles, as they are one of the only bumblebees with pure white on their rear (at least in the variety that occurs in our region). Some of the workers and males also have white in that area, but I don’t know if they are specific to our region the way the queens are. Here is an identification leaflet.

Reporting a sighting:
-You can post photos to Inaturalist, which has both a web version and an app called Seek that you can use on your phone. Note that you do not have to know which bee you are posting - there is a whole community that watches the postings and identifies/corrects misidentifications. All you need to do is post a photo to use the app. I’ve used the Seek app regularly since I learned that all kinds of researchers use the data posted, including the Soil and Water Conservation Districts who monitor locations of novel invasive weeds and eradicate them before they become particularly problematic.
-You can also get involved with the Bumble Bee Atlas, the Xerces Society’s official webpage to track and conserve our bumblebees. You can also simply email them at: bumblebees@xerces.org.

Neonicotinoids

Factors in this species’ decline other than blunders in commercial bumblebee rearing are the usual suspects: habitat loss, trampling of nest sites by livestock, climate change, pesticide usage, parasites, etc.

But neonicotinoid use has been identified as particularly problematic to the Western Bumblebee. A study published by the United States Geological Survey shows that where neonicotinoids (or neonics for short) have been used, this bee has declined substantially. Neonics are a class of insecticides that are systemic, meaning that the plant absorbs the pesticide into the tissue and the whole plant becomes toxic to animals that are sensitive to them. For bumblebees, when they sip floral nectar or eat the pollen, they are exposed. Many other types of insects are also exposed, including sap-sucking and leaf-eating insects.

Environmental persistence: this pesticide is water soluble, leading to water contamination. The National Institutes of Health reports that neonicotinoids remain in dead plant tissue and soil for months to years, exposing all decomposing insects and soil-dwelling insects again.

Where neonics are used:
-According to the National Toxicology Program at the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, neonics are currently almost always used on US grown corn crops, and at least 1/3 of our soy.
-Many other types of food crops are also mentioned as likely targets for neonics. Apparently organic practices do not allow the use of this particular pesticide, though, I am not convinced that the pesticides that are used in organic agriculture are “safe”. Even organic pesticides are toxic to bees, as this fact sheet from Xerces shows. I feel that one of the things we can do as gardeners to help bees is to grow as much of our own food as is reasonable, so that we can be sure of what we are putting into our bodies and our environment.
-Garden centers are also a major source of neonics. Consult this brochure by the Xerces society for a list of neonic chemicals used in over-the-counter sprays. Also note that garden centers often treat their plants with neonics, and we are advised to ask the nursery if this type of pesticide has been used. But my guess is that much of the staff doesn’t know this info for sure, so caution is warranted.

Rodent Abundance

Fascinating to note that the SWAP fact sheet also points to rodent abundance as being a factor in their presence or absence, because these bees (as well as most bumblebees) mostly use abandoned rodent tunnels as nest sites. Nesting tunnels for the Western Bumblebee have been recorded up to 7 feet long!

Many gardeners have a low tolerance for rodents in the garden. I have had my share of annoying encounters, but I now have a new appreciation for their presence. And many people tend to stomp down tunnels… perhaps we should consider that these tunnels may be future homes of bumbles and they are best left alone where possible.

Floral Resources

Flower food notes:
-this species requires food from approx February through November
-diverse pollen sources early in the season is particularly important
-spring and late fall are the times of year that are most critical to provide food

Specific flower associations in Oregon and Washington (note that they say these are not necessarily preferred floral resources, but are mere observations):
-Thistles - 39 (yes, there are native thistles!)
-Spiraeas - 28
-Knapweeds - 21 (though, I know of no knapweed native to any area of Oregon)
-Clovers - 20
-Goldenrod - 19
-Lupine - 18
-Fireweed - 14
-Plantains - 10
-Pearly Everlasting - 7
-Columbine - 5
-Fleabane - 5

California records include plant families of:
-Legumes (such as lupine, pea, vetch, hosackia, etc),
-Composites (such as thistle, goldenrod, pearly everlasting, fleabane, etc.),
-Rhamnaceae (such as ceanothus, cascara)
-Rosaceae (such as rose, spiraea, serviceberry, potentilla, blackberry, etc.).

Curious to me that asters aren’t mentioned specifically, as they are known pollen/nectar sources that are great for late in the season. I did notice that one researcher found them on aster in NE Oregon in this article. Other plants that Xerces recommends not already mentioned, native to the valley: penstemons, phacelias, Oregon grapes, snowberry, ribes.

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Recently I had posted how bummed I was that I lost a decent sized Horsemint to slugs when I planted it out. This is a plant that grows east of the cascades, and is well known for being a fantastic butterfly magnet, so I really wanted to give it a shot here. I thought all hope was lost, considering that the slugs devoured it pretty quickly.

But I didn’t plant out all of my starts yet. I potted up some of them and put them on a metal table up on my deck. Slugs rarely venture to this area. The plants surprised me recently by putting out a few blooms at the top of the plant, and are showing what appears to be signs of significant further blooms. I would not have expected it to bloom in its first year, and I wouldn’t have expected it to bloom in fairly shady conditions up on my deck. Cool. Perhaps this is one that I can actually grow! Good to know that they will at least grow well up on the deck, and when I get some sizable plants I will attempt planting out again, since big plants are much less susceptible to slug damage. This also appears to be a particularly problematic slug year - possibly due to a lack of winter freezes - and I may have better success in the future.

Violet seed collection

As I’ve written about previously, I’m collecting various native violet seeds in an effort to create substantial fritillary habitat on my property. I’ve gone out to check on their progress a few times. Most of the flowers I placed collection bags around had a fruit, showing that they got fertilized. I did brush all of the flowers that I placed collection bags around with a paint brush (moving pollen from one plant to others) in order to increase chances of them being pollinated. I am waiting until after all of the seed pod bursts open to actually collect them, as I want to make sure that the seeds are mature.

The first violets to bloom are Viola sempervirens, Evergreen Violet. The flowers formed fruits several weeks ago, but only recently (late May) burst open revealing their seeds. They were rather slow to mature.

Second to bloom are Viola glabella, Stream Violet. Surprisingly, when I went to check on them yesterday (June 4) all of the pods had burst, except for the cleistogamous flowers. I went ahead and collected them anyway, as there appears to be plenty of seed… but the plants are getting harder and harder to find now that many other plants are up and out of the ground.

Just a few weeks ago, this area had several hundred visible stream violets visible. Now the plants are nearly impossible to find. Particularly problematic is a thick stand of bracken fern, along with grasses nearly as tall as me. When I collect next year, I will have to keep this in mind, that the plants can be almost completely obscured by taller vegetation that grows later in the season.

I have to wonder if the vegetation crowding out the plants plays a role in butterflies being able to find them late in the season when the butterflies are known to lay eggs.

The third violet I am after is what I believe to be Viola howellii, and this one blooms the latest of the 3. I find that many of the plants I placed collection bags around are also difficult to find due to vegetation growing over them.

Western (?) Tailed Blue

My first time getting up close to a tailed blue was on May 30 this year. This one was particularly small, and at first I thought it was a moth. It flew off pretty quick, and this is the best shot I could get of it. I’m assuming this is a western tailed blue, but from my understanding it is not easy to tell the difference between this and the eastern tailed blue. With a poor quality photo and no underside visible, I don’t know that anyone could say for sure. But the tail on the lower wing is fairly obvious for being a tailed blue.

Host plants are largely the same for both, a wide variety of native legumes.

Also this year I have spotted some kind of sulfur three times, I think it is the Orange Sulfur but I am unable to get a close look. From what I can tell all species of sulfurs that occupy our region are on the Species of Greatest Information Need on the Oregon State Wildlife Action Plan. That means there are concerns about the stability of their populations, but they don’t know enough about them to say for sure. My understanding is that this action plan is only updated once every 10 years. Hopefully they would have more information prior to that time, but in my mind we need not wait to take action in our gardens.

All of the sulfurs, and the tailed blues, feed on native legumes. However, there are no natural species of lupines in the forest around me. Instead there are a multitude of other native legumes: peas, vetches, hosackia, forest scurfpea, and I believe I spotted thermopsis, but the area has since been sprayed with herbicide by the logging industry, so I can’t be sure.

Lupines are cool, but, I have a really hard time with them due to non-native, invasive slugs. I suspect I rarely see them in the wild because they are often short lived and new seedlings are slug candy.

Some of the other legume species in my garden appear to be resistant to slugs, but I am just beginning to collect that info.

FYI Native clovers also seem to be slug candy, and I have yet to see them in the forest behind me as well.

Just a shout out to “other” legumes. :)

Forest Scurfpea

Speaking of “other” legumes… I’ve written a whole bunch about other legumes recently, but wanted to take a sec to highlight a new-to-me species: Forest Scurfpea. It is growing in a very sloped area, dominated once by Madrone and I believe Grand Fir. Lots of rock in the soil, and like the hill behind my home, is likely part of the Boring Lava Field.

I haven’t yet seen this species of legume mentioned as a butterfly host plant, but, considering the wide adaptability of some of our butterfly species to several legums it certainly could be. Regardless, it appears to be popular with bumble bees, who also need our help.

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We happened to come home just as the fire was spreading, noticed that no one was around monitoring it, and quickly called 911. The fire department spent 3 hours dumping water and presumably putting the fire out.

Two days later two smoldering fires went up. One of them was 100 feet away from the initial fire, well into our property in our forest. The other was closer to the initial fire. Another crises averted - only because I was paying close attention.

Note: logging slash is not included in backyard burns. They must be permitted through the Oregon Department of Forestry. They would not have permitted this fire this late in the year, as logging slash tends to reignite even when it appears to be out later in the season when our summer drought commences. They want to make sure spring lit fires are OUT well before summer.

Though we had some rain 5/26 overnight, it did not wet under the tree canopy.

I’m noticing a whole lot of new logging projects going on in Clackamas County. Please have conversations with your neighbors about their logging slash, potential alternatives to burning (firewood, mastication, chipping). It takes a village - we must be vigilant to keep our community safer from the danger of wildfire.

I myself have been running around like a madwoman over the last several years gathering and chipping up as much debris as I can. I use a small electric chipper for limbs of small diameter. Big limbs require a much bigger chipper than I have. I have used a grant through the Clackamas County Fire Department 3 times to pay for chipping, this last time the grant was unavailable so I paid out of pocket. THANK YOU to those who funded the grant in the past. It really helped stretch our finances!

Stay safe this summer everyone.

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But when I started reviewing the threatened and endangered species lists for butterflies in our area, I was surprised to see the Monarch listed specifically as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the Willamette Valley.

I started poking around for information. I asked in an online forum about this topic, and was left with the impression that the “expert” native plant gardeners in the area had the same conclusion I did - planting milkweed for monarchs is likely inconsequential.

Some gardeners insisted that milkweed isn’t native in our area - at least near Portland. Another gardener has done a little research into the topic, and came away with the conclusion that milkweed wasn’t terribly common, but has since lost a ton of range, likely in large part because early settlers targeted milkweed for eradication since it had the potential to poison livestock. They pulled up many old news reports and records in our area discussing poisoning stories. A few quotes from their research:

“For many years several kinds of milkweed have been looked upon with suspicion or considered poisonous by western stockmen. This opinion was based largely on their own field observations; and little or no experimental work has been done with any of the species except the whorled-leaved milkweed (Asclepias galioides).” Source.

“Reports by stockmen and others of the poisoning of livestock by these plants have been made from many parts of the Western States, and yet almost an equal number of reports have been made asserting that the plants are harmless. Generally speaking, the reports of harmful results have not indicated clearly what species of milkweed was supposed to be involved. For the most part the plants were not examined by botanists who could determine the species correctly.” Source.

There are a few more quotes that they found, but, I think you get the picture: though Milkweed wasn’t a common plant, it was likely more present than initially thought before eradication efforts.

More notes from that forum discussion:

I was sent a published paper showing Monarchs currently do pass through Oregon, and well into Washington.

In 2025 a couple had monarchs lay eggs on their milkweed in Salem, which they protected, captured and tagged with the help of experts.

I was also given a few photos of gardeners who have specifically seen Monarchs in the Portland area:

I was perplexed by the terribly conflicting impressions, and I attempted to dive into the most recent literature myself, and came away still confused. Some of the range maps exclude the Monarch, some include it. The most recent Monarch mapping project shows Monarchs regularly use our area.

Further confusing: some of the most recent literature says our area is priority, while in the same document, there are conflicting messages such as: “… In areas west of the Cascade Crest in Washington and parts of western Oregon, monarchs only pass through in relatively small numbers or in some years. For this reason, planting milkweed in these areas is not a recommended monarch conservation strategy…”

I decided I would try and find someone who could answer this question decisively. But, in order to do so I would have to figure out who that person could possibly be. I have learned since that time that insects are not considered wildlife in Oregon, where the state of Oregon lacks regulatory authority. Instead they rely on outside experts to help guide them.

I happened to come across the name of the Conservation Biologist who happens to lead the western Monarch project, Emma Pelton, and sent off an email inquiry. Here are the quotes of our conversation I found most helpful:

“Monarchs are a high priority butterfly species in Oregon and monarch habitat restoration and management in the Wilamette Valley is beneficial.” She included a range map on this link, which at first glance appears to exclude the valley. I clarified that it is the cascades and coast that are excluded from the map, not the Willamette Valley.

“…it can be a bit of a nuanced conversation with folks who might be more motivated by planting for resident species instead of migrants like monarchs. And sometimes gardeners get frustrated in planting for monarchs in Oregon without seeing many/any for years given the low population. That’s when I like to emphasize the multi species benefits of planting/managing monarch attracting native species like showy milkweed which supports many other milkweed specialist (and generalist) invertebrates. As monarchs can use a wide range of nectar species, there is usually more overlap with other butterfly host plants and bee-friendly flowers.. We have a good resource for lots of options that attract monarchs here: https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/16041_02_MNPL_MaritimeNorthwest_web-screen.pdf”

Note: IMO, this nectar list needs substantial revision for the valley. Many of the inclusions are better suited to the coast or the east side of the cascades, which have substantially different climates than our area. I’ve tried many of them, and can confirm they are slug magnets. Good garden choices from this list that I personally can confirm: asters, thistles, verbenas, mule’s ears, goldenrod, buckwheats.

More quotes:

“There is a lot of older literature (just a lot of literature period!) and older range maps which inaccurately represent the Western Monarch range in multiple ways so I’m not surprised that searching leads to some conflicting reports. For context, I live in Portland. We are certainly the edge of the range of milkweed and I don’t see many monarchs in the city since the population crash in 2018 but I happily maintain showy milkweed in my garden.”

“A lot of the westwide focus on monarch conservation is on California given it's importance for both overwintering and spring/fall migratory habitat but Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and other western states in the breeding and migratory range play an important role.”

“The USFWS species status assessment from 2024 has really nice (if dense) references with the most up to date and accurate information.” Link is here.

I then read through this document, which is definitely dense. To summarize, here are some quotes:
”To support a strong growth rate, monarch populations require large population sizes and sufficient quantity, quality, and distribution of habitat to accommodate all life stages.”
”Monarchs need a matrix (distribution) of habitat to support connectivity and timing of their movements during the breeding and migratory seasons.”
”This habitat needs to be distributed throughout the range to ensure local and landscape-scale connectivity and maximize lifetime fecundity.”

With all of that, there is no longer debate. Monarchs are a high priority specifically in our area.

Monarch plants

Caterpillar Host: are strictly milkweeds. Refer to this post outlining key points regarding milkweeds.

Adult nectar: is a more nuanced conversation. The monarch tends to use Milkweed flowers heavily for nectar. The most commonly used native plant that I saw in my photo investigation of nectar resources butterflies use in our area was goldenrod, followed by asters. Since dogbanes are in the same family as milkweed and most of our regional butterflies use dogbane as a necar source, dogbane, where available, should be considered. Plants not native to the valley but native to the range of monarchs in general include: zinnia, echinacea, joe-pye weed, and liatris. Butterfly bush is also highly used, but given its invasive nature should probably be avoided. But penstemons are in the same family as butterfly bush, which may serve a similar role for butterflies, though its bloom period is considerably shorter.

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My slug density is already quite high. I live on a partially shaded wetland, and the usual slug control remedies that work for other gardeners in my region simply do not work for me. Usually I can get away with delaying some plantings until the soil is warm enough for seedlings to rapidly grow, but this year I’ve still had a rough time of it.

In the vegetable garden, I planted out several broccoli seedlings in late April/early May and they were immediately eaten right down to the ground. I didn’t have as bad a time with Lacinato kale, so I will have some brassica to eat in a few weeks, though they did still damage a few plants pretty badly. The leeks I planted out just a few days ago are badly damaged, which is unusual since slugs don’t typically go after allium species. I have yet to plant out tomatoes, and while those are usually safe, they do sometimes go after tomato plants and I will probably hold off until after the coming cool spell to plant out, so that the tomatoes can grow fast (slugs prefer young plants).

But while the vegetable garden has been somewhat annoying, the habitat plantings are downright maddening.

I planted out quite a few Broadleaf Lupine and Grindelias. They were a fairly good size, enough that they were outgrowing their 4” pots. They were eaten down to the ground rather quickly. Luckily I had a suspicion I shouldn’t plant them all out - I’ve got many more that I waited to plant that are safe from slug slithering zone. I’ll be up-planting my remaining into gallon pots to get even bigger before attempting to plant out again.

Milkweed seedlings were devoured by slugs that climbed up where I had put them up high, trying to keep them out of slug zone. A big fat slug was hiding under the pot so I know it was them that ate my pretty seedlings. The small milkweed I planted last year came up, and was devoured pretty quickly. It had a chicken-wire cage around it and I strongly suspect slugs went after that one as well.

Hemp Dogbane is a plant that I had planted from a start over the winter. It was leafing out right about the same time my seedlings came up, but, the leaves have now disappeared. Now that I know Hemp Dogbane is a slug target, I will attempt to grow my seedlings into much bigger plants before setting them out.

I also planted out Senecio triangularis at that same time. Super healthy looking roots. So far it hasn’t leafed out at all. Something else may have happened to it but it likely is slugs.

I grew Agastache urticifolia, Horsemint, from seed this year. One of the plants that I had been coddling along that was outgrowing its 4” pot was planted out, and it was devoured rather quickly. I have some more seedlings that I will attempt to grow even bigger, but I suspect I will still have the same issues. I have this strong suspicion because when I attempted to get this plant several years ago from SevenOaks, they had a crop failure due to slugs, and I just happened to write it down in my notes. Given how popular this plant is with butterflies as a nectar source, I still wanted to give it a shot.

Other plantings, not necessarily native here but native to other parts of the US that I selected as butterfly nectar plants, have struggled badly as well after recent plantings. Joe-pye weed and Monarda fistulosa are pretty much completely gone.

The Silver linings?

While there have been a lot of losses this year, I’m noticing some wins that are particularly exciting.

Lupines have been a target species of mine for butterfly habitat, but as of this year, I may be rethinking my strategy. Lupines host an incredible amount of butterfly species, but they are so difficult to get established in my garden because of the high slug population. Also, they happen to be rather short-lived. So even if I could coddle them along for awhile, outgrowing the stage at which they are super vulnerable, they tend to die rather quickly.

My understanding is that Broad-leaved lupine is a longer-lived species than other lupines, and according to Northwest Meadowscapes it is actually one of the few lupines that can be divided for more plants. And Boisduval’s Blue is specific to Broadleaf Lupine in our area. So this is one I’ll still be making a strong attempt with.

But otherwise, if you look over the list of multitude of butterflies that host on lupines, every one of them will accept other species as host. Some of these are other legumes, others are checkermallows (which don’t suffer any slug issues).

The above Thermopsis is a confirmed host to 3 of the butterflies that host on lupines, and appears to be slug resistant so far. The photo clearly shows slugs exploring this plant, but no damage has been found. I have heard, however, that Thermopsis is difficult to grow from one experienced native plant gardener. Other gardeners report that this plant has persisted in their garden for a few years. I found a seed source recently, and will attempt to grow them out next year. I’ll report back with more info.

Lotus are another group of legumes that are acceptable host to several of the butterflies that host on lupines. I’ve been observing quite a few species both in my garden, and in the woods behind my home. I’m noticing very little, if any, damage from slugs on these plants. Almost all of the butterflies that accept lupines will accept Lotus (except Boisduval’s, specific to Broadleaf Lupine), and the other ones that will not accept lotus accept checkermallow (which have no slug issues at all).

Curiously, I have never seen lupines growing in the woods behind my home. But I have seen many other legume species. I wonder if the lupines struggle because of the spread of non-native, invasive slugs, who seem to think they are delicious.

I suppose that it shouldn’t surprise me that some legumes are more impacted by slugs than others. In the vegetable garden, slugs mostly leave peas alone. But they love green beans. And this year they are strongly going after my fava beans. But peas haven’t had any issues, even in this wacky super sluggy year.

Other than legumes, there’s a few other particularly slug resistant plants that I’m seeing:

What’s happening in your gardens?

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Summary: there is a lot of unknowns about this butterfly in our area. Large patches of native violets will help this and other fritillary butterflies in our specific ecoregion. Eggs are laid late in the season near host plants for feeding the following season. It is probably best not to clean debris at all in the area of hosts, and not allow poultry to free range nearby. Target nectar sources include native thistles, both species of dogbanes, perhaps a few others. Many of the plants discussed are not in cultivation, we should look to change that.

Last year I decided to further my research into butterflies in our area and looked over the list of conservation species on the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife webpage of target animals. I wanted to know specifically which species were considered particularly vulnerable to extinction, and what we gardeners might be able to do about it. At that time, the Great Spangled Fritillary was listed as a Conservation Strategy species, meaning that the butterfly has declined significantly and needs conservation. I have been trying to gather information on plants and action items to help out the imperiled butterfly since then

But in early May this year, I noticed that there have been major revisions to the site. Apparently each state produces a State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) every 10 years. Oregon’s SWAP has changed the terminology and produced two separate lists. Instead of “Conservation Strategy Species” we now have “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” and a brand new list called “Species of Greatest Information Need” (meaning, they don’t have enough data to know whether or not each species is in need, and they must do further studies).

Surprisingly, the Great Spangled Fritillary is no longer on the website on either list - the page that was once dedicated to it is now blank, but other websites, such as this one, have yet to catch up with the information.

I started asking around for information, and I was given this link to PSU’s Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Zoology Species of Oregon (2025). Note that there are two different entries for this particular butterfly on this list. I believe the one that concerns us here in the Willamette Valley is actually a subspecies of The Great Spangled Fritillary, Argynnis leto pugetensis, known colloquially as the Puget Sound Fritillary. County ecoregions included in this list specific to this species: Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Hood, Jackson, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington, Yamhill.

As I was asking around about this topic, a scientist that works for Metro suggested that the species was not included in the current SWAP because it does not have an S1 or S2 ranking, but rather an S3 ranking, as defined in the methods section of the SWAP. It seems as though this butterfly is not considered as imperiled as other species. You can read more about the definitions of the rankings here on the State of Oregon page.

I sent off an email inquiry on the appropriate link on our SWAP asking why the butterfly is no longer included. An official with the Or. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife did get back to me. She said that she is not sure why this particular butterfly wasn’t included, and will be sending my question off to the appropriate invertebrate specialist (if I hear back I will update here). Also, as part of her email, I found this quote from interesting and wanted to make sure to save it for future reference: “We do include some species as SGCN that have higher S ranks than S1 or S2 – these typically are those that are apparently secure but are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss or other threats. These are species that are doing ok now, but are not expected to readily recover if a population is directly impacted by something like a catastrophic stand replacing fire or a large scale pollution event. As a non-expert on invertebrates, what sticks out to me about SWAPs nationally is the lack of truly comprehensive inclusion of invertebrate species. We know that globally an enormous portion of invertebrates are at risk, but we also know that we have exceptionally limited information about these species. As we learn more about some of the less charismatic taxa like spiders, ants, or true flies, I imagine our list of SGCN will grow.”

Anyhow, with all of that said… and considering that the above referenced page at PSU and NatureServe ranking show this butterfly as considered rather vulnerable to extinction, I am puzzled as to why the state wouldn’t want to bring attention to this issue.

Regardless of how the species is officially ranked by our government, I think it makes sense for us to continue paying attention to the habitat needs of this butterfly where possible. The Willamette Valley already has a fritillary - the Valley Silverspot - that has gone extinct. Another closely related fritillary, a coastal species, the Oregon Silverspot, is severely threatened. And over in Washington, they do include the Puget Sound Fritillary in their State Wildlife Action Plan in 2015.

Note that The Great Spangled Fritillary is a widely distributed species across the US. But unfortunately the Puget Sound Fritillary, the apparent subspecies that is in decline in our area, is very difficult to find information on. Information for the main species of Great Spangled Fritillary is likely applicable to the subspecies, but I don’t know for sure.

Also of note: the violets that feed this vulnerable butterfly are known hosts to other fritillary species that reside in our region (or are suspected to be). And the nectar plants are equally as beneficial to our habitats as well.

Host plant(s)

The Great Spangled Fritillary in general requires violets to feed their caterpillar young. According to several sources, Viola Glabella is the main host plant in our area, but my books also list several other violet species it will accept.

Growing information for all common cultivated violets is detailed in this post.

Over in Washington they have a little more information listed specific to the Puget Sound Fritillary. They note that this subspecies has specifically been observed to use V. praemorsa and V. adunca. On the NatureServe site for Puget Sound Fritillary, note the following quote: “Presence of genus Viola is a critical habitat feature, but as far as known the exact species of violet is not important.”

Other important notes regarding larvae: adult butterflies fly later in the summer, often after violets have died back. They are able to find dead, dried out foliage and they lay eggs on the ground near the dormant host. When the plants wake up in the spring, caterpillars are ready to feed. So don’t clean the leaves — let them die in place. Also caterpillars are nocturnal, only coming out during the dark hours to feed. Those of us that keep poultry might want to reconsider letting them free-range. Poultry love to scratch around and gobble up these soil-dwelling critters.

Also of importance to discuss here is that the butterfly likely requires substantial patches of violets in order to successfully breed. Please see this post for more discussion on this.

Other violets as acceptable hosts?

In addition to those commonly available species, I wonder whether we have other suitable larval hosts. The California Native Plant Society certainly seems to think so - check out their list of likely host plants.

The reason I’m curious about violets other than what is commonly available is that they may be more suitable for our gardens. Those species might also be quicker to establish than others. Examples:

Viola howellii is a species that tolerates dryish areas in shade. I suspect I have located this plant, but I and experienced native plant people I have spoken to are struggling to pin this down to species. Some experts keyed out V. nephrophylla, others V. palustris, and one other thinks it could be either V. adunca or V. howellii, as they are nearly identical in keys (to view the comparison, put in the appropriate violets in the search boxes).

The above photo is potentially Viola howellii, but I have yet to confirm. Whatever it is, the plant occurs in the woods behind my home. I have been intrigued by its growing habits for years. It grows in the same habitat as Viola sempervirens (Evergreen Violet). These violets grow in dry shade, high in organic matter. Unlike V. sempervirens though, this particular plant - whatever it happens to be - is much leafier, similar to V. glabella (which is noted as the main larval host to the Great Spangled in our region). Also note that V. Sempervirens takes a long time to establish and become a colony that would likely suit butterfly rearing. Might this species fill in a little more quickly in areas of dryish shade?

Other violets native to the Willamette Valley may serve other niches. Some take particularly boggy soil such as V. macloskeyi and V. palustris (whereas V. glabella likes more moderate moisture). I don’t know if the caterpillars would tolerate wet soil, but again the California Native Plant Society lists these two species that accept boggy conditions as “likely” acceptable hosts. In my mind they are worth seeking out and preserving.

Note that I am not advocating for digging these plants in the wild, but would like to draw attention to some overlooked species in the nursery trade. Hopefully some of my nerdy friends will be able to locate these plants and collect seeds as I intend to do with the suspected Howellii - obviously you’d want to check the rules for land you’re considering collecting from.

The adaptability to multiple hosts certainly begs the question as to whether non-native violets and pansies would be acceptable. In Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies, they attempted feeding pansy to the Great Spangled, and it did not feed on them. There are other Fritillaries in our region that will accept some non-natives such as V. labradorica, but other species will not. Violets are known to hybridize, so it’s probably (?) best to discourage non-native violets and pansies coexisting with natives so that their offspring don’t mutate into plants not acceptable as hosts.

Nectar plants

In the Washington State Wildlife Action Plan, two notes are of particular interest:

“Adults require late-season nectar, and especially seek out native and non-native thistles (Cirsium)”.

“Research on other Speyeria spp. suggests that nectar availability affects the number of eggs laid by females.”

Thistles are a bit of a thorny topic (ha). Most of the thistles one encounters can be obnoxious in habit, but as noted there are multiple species of thistles that are native and considerably less aggressive. Unfortunately when most landowners encounter a thistle, it is assumed to be a nasty weed and quickly targeted for eradication, so our native thistles have lost a ton of range. Please see this write up by the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation district for a primer on the differences between natives and non.

Regarding the non-native thistles, I note that Canadian Thistle is considered more problematic from a weed perspective over Bull Thistle, but both are sought out by the butterfly we are discussing, and many butterflies overall. Though I wouldn’t advocate for allowing either alien species to proliferate and crowd out more desirable plants, I think it is helpful to keep in mind this perspective - thistles (even non-native ones) are highly sought after by many insects.

I’ve removed almost all non-native thistles from my property, but, if I did not have native thistles here, I might consider allowing some non-natives to bloom until other suitable nectar sources are available, while I tackle other species higher on the priority removal list (such as ivy). But I would for sure chop their heads off after the flowers fade so they can’t set seed.

As for native thistles, I’m delighted to report that I have some natives on my property, which I believe are Cirsium brevistylum, or Clustered Thistle.

I have noticed this particular plant growing for a few years, but don’t know a ton about it. It seems to grow in proximity to water but not in water (usually). I have seen it growing very large directly in a creek, but most often it is several feet away from a water source, often in partial shade. If one had ready access to seed, some experimentation would be a good idea.

Commercial availability for native thistles is fairly low. Occasionally Cirsium occidentale is available for sale, but it requires quite sharp drainage and I don’t know anyone who’s managed to keep one alive in the valley (including myself).

The good news is that habitat gardeners are becoming more aware of the importance of native thistles, and plant suppliers are beginning to take notice. In particular I note that Nobody Nursery, a mail order source out of Washington, has the same thistle I have available for shipping. Last summer someone posted a photo of their thistle doing well in their yard that they had planted from this source.

Other than the mentions of thistles, there are no further discussions about this particular butterfly and preferred nectar sources. I suspect they must use some other species.

In the Washington SWAP they noted that the Valley Silverspot - a closely related species, now considered extinct in the Willamette Valley - has a strong relationship with Erigeron speciosus, or showy fleabane. I had added a few plants to my garden this year for other butterflies, and wonder if it might be a good target species as well.

Otherwise, in my book Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, they note a few locations where the Puget Sound Frtillary may be found. Perhaps looking at the flowers that reside there may offer some clues?

In the valley, Finley National Wildlife Refuge is listed as having a population. Oregon Flora lists out the flowers that are found there. The flowers that are likely used, based on my observation of nectar photos: Indian Hemp Dogbane, Goldenrod, Pearly Everlasting, Yarrow, as well as multiple species of both native and non-native Thistles, Fleabanes, Asters, Grindelia.

Mima Mounds in Washington is also listed as a location, and it has a plant list online as well. The likely suspects that jump out at me as nectar sources: Goldenrods, Oregon Sunshine, Pearly Everlasting, Spreading Dogbane, Thistles (only non-natives are located at this site), Yarrow.

Note that both locations have a type of Dogbane, a flower that is highly attractive to butterflies in general. Dogbanes are closely related to milkweed in the same family. Hemp Dogbane is a wetland species, while Spreading Dogbane is a dryland species. If you ever get a chance to smell the flowers of Spreading Dogbane you should - they remarkably smell like lilac. Unfortunately neither of these plants are often for sale, and from what I hear Spreading Dogbane is difficult to propagate. I will still be trying - some day we will crack the code!

Two other known locations for the Puget Sound Fritillary are listed in the literature, but at this time I don’t see published plant lists. Perhaps some day there will be. The other known locations are Puget Prairie and Scatter Creek.

Lastly, in compiling my research on overall nectar plants that are used by Willamette Valley butterflies, I revealed that the main Great Spangled Fritillary has a clear association with milkweeds as a nectar plant. Many of the milkweeds seen in the photos on the website I used aren’t actually native to the valley, but they are native to areas where the Great Spangled are also native to. Perhaps the Puget Sound Fritillary would use this species as a nectar plant as well? Please see this post for a deeper discussion into milkweeds available.

I had also noted that Dogbanes are highly used by the Greater Fritillary in photographs.

Lastly, though I do tend toward native plantings in my conservation efforts, I note that there are other plants that aren’t necessarily native here but are native to areas where the Great Spangled Fritillary are also native that are highly used: Echinacea, Monarda fistulosa, and Zinnia. None of these plants are known to be problematic in our region, and they are worth considering if that’s what you have access to.

I attempted to grow that Monarda this year from a one gallon start, but the slugs are devouring it quick. Echinacea is a short-lived perennial that is a popular garden plant, but also struggles with slugs in our area early in the season - consider holding it in a pot until it is large enough to withstand slugs.

Zinnia is highly interesting to me - it is an annual warm weather flower, commonly used as a garden bedding plant. This year I’ve started a whole flat of it, I will be using them as space holders - holding space for the native baby perennials that require a little more coddling before I can place them in the ground. From my readings, the taller growing Zinnia elegans with simpler flowers are the most highly sought after by butterflies.

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Donations: the information that is provided here is free for gardeners of all financial means. I feel that those who have the least resources are those who need this information most. If you’d like to financially support this site, myself and my family, you can make a one-time donation or monthly subscriptions on this link. Thank you SO much to the folks that have supported me. Your contributions mean so much!

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