It seems that the greenhouse staff at Mount Rainier National Park has a plethora of plants this spring.

John Titland, volunteer coordinator for Mount Rainier National Park Associates, sent an e-mail regarding the group’s July 18 work party that details the issue.

Volunteers had originally been scheduled to remove exotic plants under the direction of the park’s restoration staff. However, Titland said, they have been asked to do planting at Paradise instead.

Apparently because of final construction work on the new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center and early snowfall last fall, the restoration staff was unable to use all the plants raised at the greenhouse as planned at Paradise. When work was halted, there were 56,000 greenhouse plants remaining to be planted.

These plants were maintained over the winter and are once again ready to be planted. Because of greenhouse space limitations – in part because of the 100,000 plants grown for this fall’s planting season – park staff will plant in July to finish the revegetation around the visitor center.

If you are interested in volunteering with the associates, contact Titland at volunteer@mount-rainier.org. To volunteer through the park, go to rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com.

The News Tribune