Dirt flew, conversation flowed, and by the end of the morning of December 4, a total of 450 native plants had been knocked out of their plastic pots and found themselves tucked snugly into a new bed along Wilshire Park’s south fence.
The material was purchased with a generous grant from the Portland Garden Club, for which BWNA had applied last winter through its Friends of Wilshire Park Committee. The planting of salmonberry, Indian plum, evergreen huckleberry, salal, Oregon grape, ninebark, epimedium, and other Oregon natives was laid out and overseen by Northeast parks horticulturist Sicily Sardino. Thirty energetic volunteers ranging in age from under eight to over eighty, and including members of Boy Scout packs 107 and 117, did the spadework.
Now the area will provide not only biodiversity and visual interest to passing joggers and dog walkers, but also food and shelter for birds and pollinators, as well as a bit of carbon sequestration—all while not needing to be mown or having its leaf cover noisily blown away.