Not surprisingly, seeing that we are in Oregon, we easily spotted several Oregon grapes (Mahonia aquifolium) along our walk. Most of the ones we saw appeared to be just days away from blooming.
The Oregon grape is Oregon’s state flower as well as a native. It is quite a useful plant and I am excited to have recently added one to our backyard garden. The berries are edible and can be used to make jelly or wine. It also has many medicinal purposes as well as being a good source of natural dye.
Alder trees are also a source of natural dye and on our walk we noticed that they are just beginning to leaf out. Some Alders are native to Oregon and some are not. I have not yet learned to identify which ones are so I am not too sure of the two pictured below. An interesting tidbit about Alders from the OSU website is that Alders fix nitrogen much like legumes do.
Finally one plant that we enjoyed proved to be the hardest for me to photograph. This particular Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) that I photographed was completely covered in its greenish-white flowers and was very pretty. Unfortunately those pretty white flowers proved to be quite a challenge for me to capture in a picture without getting lost in the surroundings around them.
The Indian plum is yet another native and it can grow to about 15 feet. I found myself thinking it would look very lovely next to the red-flowering currants (Ribes sanguineum) that I fell in love with. I would not mind having either one in my garden to enjoy.
This nature walk is just the start of many more to come this year for my homeschooling family. We very much enjoy them and there is no better way to study nature than to actually get out there and experience it. I hope my readers enjoyed the pictures from this nature walk as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Hi Cynthia – What a wonderful thing you are doing for your kids, teaching them about plants and habitats and their surroundings, so they will grow up knowing so much. I just planted that mahonia but have heard I’ll need to watch its roots for excessive spreading! I will probably leave the berries for the birds and other wildlife but will be curious to hear if you actually harvest and process yours – what do they taste like?!
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I certainly did enjoy the nature walk series, Cynthia. And the pictures were gorgeous…I don’t get scenery like that here in Eastern Washington! Thank you again for sharing.
Annie’s Granny’s last blog post..April 25, 2009: Looking Back
How pretty, I love seeing all the native plants in their native surroundings.
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Yes, I think a Ribes and an Oemleria would make a beautiful pairing with a colorful underplanting of tulips and white candytuft…. Oh the wheels are turning.
Lovely nature walk, Cynthia.
We used to pick Oregon grape berries all the time with my Dad. He would make very tasty jelly out of them.
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You are so right. We enjoy nature walks here too, though my kids go to traditional school. We don’t have many neighbors and there really isn’t another way for them to make friends. I teach them at home too, they really enjoy it.
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Oh I love the nature walk. It is interesting to see the plants you have on the other side of the country.
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fun nature walk, I love plants in their natural environment
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What lovely photos. So lush & green! It looks like the perfect place to have a nature walk. Love your blog!
Nature walk is that I enjoy the most at every weekend. I use to hike the hill nearby my home. Taking pictures on the animals, trees, plants and landscape is then the best hobby.
Your flowers are great and the view in spring is sort of similar to what I am having in Malaysia.
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