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Plant Basics Or C. Henry UW Chapter 5 from: Ecological Restoration Handbook By: Chuck Henry & Elena Olsen C. Henry EPS Manicured park or natural ecosystem? • Manicured park – Requires continual maintenance • Water • Fertilizer • Work C. Henry • Native ecosystem – Self sustaining • There because they are supposed to be there • Adapted to the soil and climate UW Value of native plants • We are losing natural ecosystems • Associated loss of special plant species • Benefits: – Requires very little long-term maintenance if they are properly planted and established – Provides habitat for wildlife – Protects water quality by controlling soil erosion – Is an important genetic bank C. Henry UW Why plants grow in different areas • Every plant community evolves to best fit its natural environment – – – – Climate soil moisture plant nutrients ground surface • A change in the environment will mean a change in the plant community C. Henry UW Effect of water and nitrogen C. Henry UW Ecosystems change • As soils develop – Organic matter is added • As woody plants decompose, the soil is not usually as nitrogen rich as when herbaceous plants decompose – New plants grow that prefer the different soils C. Henry UW Ecosystems in western Washington • Described by their overstory – The main and tallest type of tree growing in an environment • Deciduous (lose their leaves) • Coniferous (remain green) • Then by their understory – The plants that grow under the trees C. Henry UW General position of some common trees in the landscape PW = Pacific willow, BC = black cottonwood, SS = Sitka spruce, RA = red alder, WRC = western red cedar, WH = western hemlock, DF = Douglas fir, PSF = Pacific silver fir, MH = mountain hemlock, ES = Englemann spruce, PP = ponderosa pine. C. Henry UW Succession • An ecosystem changes as it matures – Pioneering species • Species that come in after a disturbance • Hardwoods (like red alder) – Climax forests • final stage of natural forest succession • Conifers (like Douglas fir, western red cedar, western hemlock) C. Henry UW Douglas fir ecosystems • All types of soil • Low to mid elevation • Understory on a dry site – include salal, Oregon grape, snowberry, trailing blackberry and bracken fern • Understory on a moist site C. Henry – sword fern, ocean spray, Rhododendron, red elderberry, huckleberry, salmon berry, and fireweed UW Red alder • Low elevation riparian and wetlands • Disturbed sites – Nitrogen fixer • Understory species – sword fern, devil's club, black-cap raspberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, and stinging nettle C. Henry UW Western red cedar • Moist to wet soils, such as those that occur in riparian zones, around wetlands and bogs • Understory species – sword fern, salmonberry, black-cap raspberry, thimbleberry, and stinging nettle C. Henry UW Ponderosa pine • Dry climate, but some soil moisture • East of the Cascades • Sparse understory species – manzanita, Ceanothus, snowberry, Oregon grape, and fescue C. Henry UW Prairie • • • • Grassy meadows Huge Garry oaks Harsh soils Understory species – Idaho fescue, many wildflowers, and bushes of manzanita, and Ceanothus C. Henry UW
