Plant Functions and Suggested Native Plants

PLANT FUNCTIONS AND SUGGESTED NATIVE PLANTS

By Lisa Albert
4-H Wildlife Steward
OSU Extension 4-H Program Assistant

FUNCTION	DESCRIPTION	POSSIBLE PLANTS
Hedgerow - Screen Background	These can be used interchangeably. Generally hedgerow plants are human scaled, while screen plants are larger. A wide hedgerow of multi-stemmed deciduous trees and shrubs can provide considerable visual screening even in the winter. Background plants look good in mass, but not necessarily individually. They function well as a transition into a native environment. They can be used to set off or accent more attractive material and to create an outer visual border of perceived space. Form can be regular and formal or irregular and informal. Plants can be evergreen or deciduous. The plants listed above will work as well.	Vine Maple Red Twig Dogwood Tall Oregon Grape Rosa California Wax Myrtle Western Black Hawthorn Ocean Spray Evergreen Huckleberry Mock Orange Red Flowering Currant
Groundcover	Any plant that covers the ground and is generally viewed as a mass. Plant height for ground covers can vary from 1” to 3’ or more. Some of these can be used to stabilize slopes and prevent erosion.	Salal Kinnikinnik Piggyback plant Twinflower Oregon Oxalis Creeping Oregon Grape Dull Oregon Grape Sword Fern Wild Strawberry Bleeding Heart Bunchberry Sedum Inside-out Flower Violet
Swales/Bogs	These plants tolerate seasonal variation in water levels.	Rushes Sedges Monkey Flower Camas Red Osier Dogwood Pacific Ninebark Western Crabapple
Drought Tolerant	These plants, once established, will require little or no summer watering.	Yarrow Pearly Everlasting Oceanspray Mock Orange Sedum Coast Strawberry California Wax Myrtle Ribes Rosa Salal Kinnikinnik Oregon Grape (all)