Humble Roots Farm & Nursery

06/19/2026

We contributed to another issue of Fine Gardening Magazine 🌱 Look for our short article on gold currant in the Summer 2026 issue. We love seeing native plants featured more and more in popular gardening magazines like this!

06/18/2026

Spring photo dump. Plant surveys, community garden tending, seed collecting projects, oak gall ink workshop with Molly Holmlund and Columbia Land Trust , friends we met along the way, and even a family reunion when Lena’s sister, Queso, came to visit the nursery!

06/15/2026

Last year we were thrilled to receive a grant from the Oregon Community Green Infrastructure Grant Program to help us finish our rainwater collection and irrigation system. We installed the collection tanks many years ago (with the help of some cost share grants from the Wasco County SWCD) and, with a portable pump and hoses, have been hand watering our propagation and contract growing grounds solely with the rain and storm water we collect ever since.

This recent Green Infrastructure grant is making it possible for us to install the delivery tanks, which will be placed high above our propagation grounds so water is gravity fed to where it is needed, and install all the piping, pumps, and irrigation connections needed to finish the project! We live off-grid, so what little power is needed to pump between tanks will be provided by our solar system.

We have done all of the work by hand, save for the help of a trencher, which got most of the trenching done except for the steep part through a patch of poison oak (you have never seen two people more excited about a trencher)! Our choice to minimize the use of heavy machinery was very much about making as little an impact on surrounding vegetation as possible, and we are still thankful for the “barn-raising” group of friends that helped us place those first tanks.

We are now in the semi-final stretches of the project and we can’t wait for next year when we will be able to just turn a valve and have water flowing rather than spending hours wrangling pumps and hoses and hand watering!

Big thanks to the Green Infrastructure Grant Program for providing funds to native plant nurseries and seed growers for projects like ours! And thanks to all the people in our community that wrote letters of support for our project!

06/06/2026

Ookow (Dichelostemma congestum), swallowtail magnet and siren to hummingbird moths, is always the harbinger of summer in our gardens. They truly are magnets for some of our most beautiful pollinators and we love seeing all the butterflies and hummingbirds that visit them.

Although people often overlook them in the nursery, these perennial, drought-tolerant, native wildflowers are one of the most amazing plants we propagate and can be a powerful addition to pollinator gardens.

06/03/2026

We have waaay more species of native thistles than nonnative thistles in the PNW! Many of our native species are incredibly unique and fascinating in their tone and structure. Some are uncommon and may be rare and sensitive. All are great plants for local pollinators.

Pictured here is wavy-leaf thistle, Cirsium undulatum, a gorgeous PNW native perennial blooming now along the Columbia River.

We have heard many stories over the years of people finding native thistles upturned along a trail left by someone who obviously thought they were doing a good thing by pulling nonnative thistles. But, unfortunately they weren’t. Thistles may be easy to recognize as a genus, but remember that genus is diverse and important. So, before you pull anything make absolutely sure it is not native to the area…and leave the native thistles!

Take a look at the list of species of Cirsium that can be found in the PNW, both native and nonnative, on the Burke Herbarium (WA), Oregon Flora (OR), Calscape (CA) and E-Flora BC (BC) websites.

05/23/2026

The white-stemmed frasera (Frasera albicaulis) is the belle of the ball right now! Absolutely buzzing with life and pollinators of all shapes and sizes.

We are excited to have this beautiful native perennial in the nursery for the first time!

With its distinctive, white-lined leaves and intricately tinted flowers, this drought tolerant pollinator powerhouse attracts not only us, but a vast array of native pollinators.

05/15/2026

We are often shocked how few people know about the fabulous online tools for planning a native plant garden and picking native plants specifically suited to your garden and ecoregion that OregonFlora provides!! If you live in Oregon, this is an invaluable resource!

You can find these fabulous tools on the OregonFlora website:
https://oregonflora.org/garden/index.php

On Thurs, June 11, 7pm (via zoom) the Native Plant Society of Oregon-Portland Chapter will host Jeanne Standley to talk about using OregonFlora online garden planning tools.

Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/fDuYV3N1TamodT0K4WFrcA #/registration

“Jeanne will share her expertise working with the Oregon Flora: Gardening With Natives website. She will show participants how to navigate and plan various native plant garden “biomes” for our Oregon Ecoregions. Jeanne will use her South Coastal scenario to illustrate how to find the right plant for the right place. Can’t figure out what to grow under your conifers in your woodland garden? How tall will that Mock Orange shrub get? Curious about planting a Pollinator Meadowscape? Wondering where to purchase your favorite wildflowers or oak tree? Bring your notepad and questions to “find the best plants for your tastes and your yards.”

05/10/2026

Nursery blooms.
1. Spiraea splendens
2. Iris missouriensis
3. Eriogonum douglasii var douglasii
4. Triteleia grandiflora

05/08/2026

https://www.youtube.com/live/fwhiXpg0SsI?si=u-IQPFm3QD8hXQLd

Join the Less Lawn More Life 2026 kickoff -- a live conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer to launch 12 weeks of turning your outdoor space into something wil...

04/25/2026

Blooming in the nursery 🌼 Here are just a few of the many beautiful PNW native plants coming into bloom at the nursery .

White shooting star
Columbia larkspur
Sitka valerian
Great camas
Star-flowered Soloman’s seal
Heartleaf arnica
Roundleaf alumroot
Bleeding heart
Woodland strawberry
Low Jacob’s ladder
(Latin names are in the photo descriptions)

Come visit us and see the flowers blooming in the Gorge and the nursery!

Nursery open by appointment Thursdays through Sundays. Call or text 503-449-3694 to make an appointment.
🌱