Nothing says it’s Christmas time better than the brilliant crimson fruits of the lowly swamp rose. This workhorse of wetland diversity hangs onto its hips later into the season than any of our native roses, and they are truly just at the peak of ripeness, now that a few frosts and buckets of rain have … Read more

Of all of the eight common species of willow in the Willamette Valley, Salix prolixa – MacKenzie willow – is perhaps the least common, the most “climate-adapted” and also the most overlooked. Even most restoration practitioners don’t know it exists as an option. So I’m here to tell you more about it. MacKenzie willow, as … Read more

Feliz Navidad! I dolled up one of the coyote brush out front, and presto! A beautiful Christmas display for our soggy, 60-degree December holiday season. But Baccharis is perfectly happy with this weather, being largely a Pacific dune plant. It pops up and over the Coast Range, showing up on logging landings and other openings, … Read more

If we boil down the most destructive human activities, we get the following: humans are at war with life. This is nowhere more clear than in modern agriculture, where the goal frequently is the elimination of every organism other than the crop being grown. Crop systems for wheat, corn and soybeans truly seek to destroy … Read more

Here in the Tualatin Valley, we spend tens of millions of dollars to protect and improve fisheries and water quality, for all the obvious reasons. Even the hard-core right-wingers will acknowledge that we need good water, and the MAHA movement is all about it. So with everyone actually on the same page, and tens of … Read more

Finally, burning is catching on around here, at least in a tiny, tentative way. My old burn boss Warren Villa and I put together the first burns on Metro property back in the late ’90’s, but from then until the last few years, it’s been hard to get anyone interested. This despite the damage done … Read more

Check out this article to learn what we know about some aspects of the environmental and crop effects of glyphosate: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6918143 The upshot of the above journal review is simply that we don’t know much. The other takeaway is that there are, in spite of the general understanding of glyphosate in the ag world, some … Read more

Hi Folks, Sorry for the long delay in posting. Between running a tractor, cutting up thousands of willows and cottonwood stakes and trying to sell a few plants, I’ve been busy. But I never stop thinking about this stuff, and I am grateful to have so many opportunities to see plant diversity and evolution in … Read more

Hi Folks I’ve made the case that we are, indeed, doing it right here at Scholls Valley, and this is as true of vine maple as anything else. We collect from hundreds of low-elevation vine maple, so our seedlings exhibit a wide range of characteristics and therefore are as adapted to the rigors of hot, … Read more

Walnut was one of the staples of the pioneer family, along with black locust and apples. Apples provided reliable food and beverage, while walnut and locust both served needs for durable fenceposts, tool handles and various wooden implements. You’ll find these old pioneer trees as evidence of abandoned homesteads all around the Willamette Valley, and … Read more