Ferns, huckleberries, hellebores: reasons to be thankful we garden in Western Washington

The end of November is our national celebration of Thanksgiving.

Years ago when we started to travel and see gardens all over the world, I started a tradition for this column listing all the reasons why we should be thankful to garden here in Western Washington. We are home to some of the most beautiful gardens in the world.

I am thankful for our rain.

The No. 1 climate indicator of our region is also the one we most like to complain about. We have webbed feet, grow moss in our hair and experience days and days of drizzle and rain. Our rain is what makes our state evergreen, lush and full of such a variety of plant material.

I may have complained about deer in the past, but I am thankful we do not have wild boars digging up the garden.

There are parts of Italy where even tall fences cannot keep wild boar from trampling the garden. At least our deer are lovely to look at and their hooves are dainty. Deer are also quiet. Wild boars grunt and squeal and thrash about the woods.

I am thankful we don’t have to worry about rattlesnakes.

Gardeners in Eastern Washington find poisonous rattlers under the porch, sunning in the rock garden and coiled on patios. The garter snakes in my garden may startle me when I am weeding, but at least they are harmless and eat slugs in their spare time.

I am thankful we don’t have frequent wildfires, tornadoes or hurricane seasons.

Our geography keeps us free from many natural disasters. Unlike other parts of the country, we can pick out plants based on what they look like not by if they will protect us from a raging wildfire.

I am thankful for the beauty of our native plants.

Sword ferns, huckleberry and salal are so lovely that in many parts of the world our natives are considered choice specimens to grow and to fuss over in expensive landscapes. In our corner of the world we don’t even have to plant these natural beauties, and we can enjoy an attractive green landscape just by letting the natives grow.

I am thankful we can buy plants at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival … and just take them home.

The big garden show in Seattle (this year it goes from Feb. 26 to March 1) offers plenty of local plant vendors selling bulbs, houseplants, perennials, even trees and shrubs. Unlike our neighbors to the north in Canada or those from Alaska that fly down for our show, we don’t have to think twice about getting a new plant past customs or onto an airplane. Actually, I am also thankful for the unofficial start of spring that arrives with the NWFG show each year.

I am thankful for the beauty of hydrangeas, hellebores and heucheras.

I call these the heavenly “H” plants, and they grow better here in our cool, moist climate than anyplace else in the world. Hydrangeas will literally root if you drop a cut branch onto the ground. Hellebores reseed on their own if planted in the right spot. And let us hear a hurrah for the heucheras. Related to our native coral bells, this perennial can be divided up each spring to form colorful colonies of rainbow-hued foliage.

I am thankful for the nutrition of easy-to-grow blueberries, raspberries, kale and spinach.

Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, these four are the pillars of healthy eating and also happen to be super easy to grow in Western Washington. You can even grow dwarf forms of blueberries and raspberries in containers, and kale and Swiss Chard will overwinter in our climate, giving years of healthy harvest.

Finally, I am grateful to be able to write this column for over 35 years. Local newspapers and their subscribers support local news and gardening information. So we all keep growing.

This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 10:00 AM.