Hi all, I have a half acre or so of field that I'm wanting to make a little more bio diverse and aestheticly pleasing.
So I was thinking of sprinkling a few trees in there, maybe service berry since they are native and drought tolerant, have white flowers, berries, etc.
Any other suggestions?
Overall goal is just to make it more Meadow ish, I've been planting camas and other bulbs to add more color interest and more pollinators. So bulb ideas welcome too 😀
Bulbs native to the PNW include Erythronium (fawn lily), Camassia which you already are doing, and Brodiaea. They all come in a variety of styles and colors. I buy my bulbs from John Scheepers. They have a nice selection and plenty of good information like which bulbs are deer and rodent resistant. Also, bulk buying discounts and naturalizing mixes.
I second hazelnuts and if you don't have them any local oaks. I love my oak trees.
I agree with the above and would add blue elderberry and pacific crabapple. I would strongly advocate some mulberries and standard pear and apple trees as well. They can even be seedlings like antonovka and Bartlett seedlings. Livestock and wildlife will eat the fruit, you can make tree hay, and they're good for pollinators. Also very tough, long lived, and drought tolerant once established
When you reach your lowest point, you are open to the greatest change.
-Avatar Aang
Stacy suggested Erythronium (fawn lily). I just learned that apparently the bulbs are edible, but I haven't tried them yet as they're currently blooming in my area.
If you have a shady area or north slope, you could try Gaultheria shallon (Salal). The berries are supposed to be very nutritious and I've used them in baking.
In the PNW, I had great success with Korean Mountain Ash. Pretty blooms in spring, and it makes red berries that last into winter that the birds seem to enjoy.
And I'm not sure if it's the goal, but I love an broadleaf evergreen. We had a Portuguese Laurel at our old place that grew pretty quickly (I pruned it to only a few leaders and limbed it up to encourage vertical growth so it looked like a tree) and the flowers smell like grape soda.