Lots of questions, and I'm not sure I can answer them all, but:

1) If you want a native landscape, don't buy seed from Wildseed Farms. They are NOT a reliable native plant seed source. Their 'regional seed mixes' contain contain lots of non-natives, lots of showy annuals that will fade quickly, and some aggressive non-natives that can cause problems.

2) The choice of seed vs. whole plant (potted or bare-root) is usually decided based on the size of the planting area, cost (obviously related to size), and your patience. You can have success ordering plants by mail (usually bare root is the more economical choice). Starting small with live plants can help you have a positive beginning native plant experience, and will motivate you to learn more about growing plants from seed.

3) Finding one or more reliable sources of regionally appropriate native plants and seed is key. It may take time. If you can't find nearby commercial sources, you may be able to tap into a network of native plant societies. Washington State Native Plant Society has chapters in Spokane and Okanogan and lots of resources on their website (see link). Wild Ones native landscapers is another good support group with a helpful website.

Here is a link that might be useful: WA State Native Plant Society

"If it doesn't really mean that, is there any real reason to stay with strictly "native" plants rather than ones "adapted to the environmental conditions"."

There have been some wonderful threads on this question. I've put in a link to one of them here, and there is also some good stuff in the FAQs. I think you'll find a wide variety of personal takes on the native vs. non-native issue. One thing just about everybody agrees on is to avoid planting, spreading or encouraging non-native invasive plants, including those that spread when birds eat the seeds and fly away to plant them in the wild. Two big debates are: (1) what is a native? and (2) what about non-invasive non-natives? The 'what is a native' debate involves issues such as: (1) how far back do you go? do we assume that pre-European conditions are pristine or do we acknowledge that indigenous peoples manipulated the flora by burning, clearing, etc.? Do you say that plants that were native before the ice ages but never made it back up north in the centuries since are still native? (2) is native to the U.S. enough, or to my state?; my county?; (3) if something is native to a wetlands in your state, and you don't have a wetlands on your property (or your property was not a wetlands in the pre-European past), then is that plant native to your property? (same for sunny, wooded, alkaline, acid, etc.); (3) are any or all cultivars and hybrids natives?

The 'what about non-invasive non-natives' debate is largely scientific, I think (I may get lots of disagreement here). Those of us who want to see the ecological diversity of pre-Colombian America restored (even a tiny bit) prefer to spend all our time and energy on natives. If the goal is restoring, recreating or honoring native plant communities (not just individual species), then there is no real place for non-natives, or at least no reason to expend time and energy on them. I see each native in my yard as a piece of a complex puzzle that includes the climate, the soil conditions, the wildlife, even the bacteria -- this puzzle gives me just a hint of what the tiny piece of land I am stewarding was like during the time of the pyramids, the Roman empire, the middle ages and early Renaissance, before the European immigrants artificially speeded up the natural processes of species distribution to a dangerous level. Adding a non-native is like trying to fit a piece of a different puzzle into the picture. One puzzle at a time is all I can handle. But if you are making a garden with native plants in it (as opposed to a native plant community), many people are perfectly comfortable with mixing natives and non-natives (as long as they are not invasives). For some people, native plants are a much-overlooked treasure trove of beautiful, interesting plants that serve a myriad of purposes. Anything that increases the cultivation of natives will, in the long run, help maintain and restore the vanishing diversity of our plant communities.

I do think the point about 'adapted to local conditions' is a good one. Many native plant enthusiasts will remark that natives require less water, less soil amendment, less fertilizer, pest control, etc., than non-natives. But this is not true for all cases. A plant from Asia that grew in conditions identical to those in your yard may not need water, soil amendment or fertilizer (although pest control may be worse), while a so-called native plant that thrives in very wet conditions in your area will need lots of care if you try to plant it in a spot that's too dry. To me, that means the plant is not really native to the spot where you planted it, but this may seem like nitpicking.

Sorry for the long-winded sermon -- this stuff really matters to me,

-- wd

Here is a link that might be useful: Helpful thread

"Sorry for the long-winded sermon -- this stuff really matters to me"

Not long winded enough for me! Excellent post! Matters to me too WD.

"native plants are a much-overlooked treasure trove of beautiful, interesting plants that serve a myriad of purposes."

How true, and I mix in non-natives because I am basically greedy for more treasure! That makes me a heretic to some of the purists but I really, really, really do appreciate the fact that there are purists.

Not long winded enough for me either! Thanks for the well thought out answer.

I'm not really completely sure why exactly I want to "Go Native". I know I want plants that are adapted to my environment, need little babying or constant watering plus I like the IDEA of keeping it natural. But I also know I go a little nuts looking through seed catalogs so I'm guessing that dwelling somewhere within this "Nativist" is a non-purist aching for gorgeous non-natives. I'm thinking at the moment (I tend to change my mind every so often) of taking it slow and easy. As Washington will be a completely new & different environment for me, I don't even have a clue what most of the native plants look like. I'm thinking that our first year there will be a learning situation and in the meantime I'll plant a a few natives (because I'd go nuts if I couldn't go play in the dirt), plant some non-native in pots and then wait to do more till I have a better idea of what I want to do.

But we do have one area that I'm thinking I should plant right away with some ground cover or ???. In renovating the cabin, the contractor excavated the area between the cabin and the lake to put in a full semi-daylight basement. The fill was then put back in place (required by the building dept.). So I'll have an area of loose dirt with nothing growing on it. I'd hate to have all of it blow away and would like to plant something to protect the area. Any suggestions???? Area faces west and has morning shade and mostly sunny afternoons (some areas are shadier than others). AND we have lots Mule Deer. Any Suggestions????

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: NE Washington Cabin

The 'what is a native' debate involves issues such as: (1) how far back do you go? do we assume that pre-European conditions are pristine or do we acknowledge that indigenous peoples manipulated the flora by burning, clearing, etc.?

I didn't think there was any debate on what is native? Native plants pre-date European settlement. For example, Queen Anne's Lace has been here for over 200 years. It is naturalised, but it is not native and it never will be native. Because it's not native.

Indigenous people manipulated the environment by burning and clearing, which manipulated what kind of native species grew, but they didn't import species of plants from Europe or Asia.

All this being said... I like exotic plants, too. The well behaved ones! No one will make me give up my bearded Irises, or my tree peony, or my daffodils or crocus or tulips, or any other of the non-native stuff I grow. I just choose to grow a large percentage of native stuff.

Congrats to you, fossilnut, for wanting to use some natives in your gardens! John is right about Wildseed Farms.

www.prairiemoonnursery.com (they have seeds and plants)
www.prairienursery.com (they have seed, don't know about plants)

"Indigenous people manipulated the environment by burning and clearing, which manipulated what kind of native species grew, but they didn't import species of plants from Europe or Asia."

Depends on Which native people you are talking about... If one looks at Polynesian people, certainly they introduced plants where they traveled, as did other "native" people. For that matter, I should point out that all people, even us, had ancestors which were native somewhere.

I hazard a guess that few American plants came from Asia or Europe pre-settlement, but certainly quite a few were moved from Mexico to New England... One really odd thing to consider is that the standard pre-settlement definition means that Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Squash, Corn, and a whole host of other plants are "native". That means technically, we could all speak on this list about the best way to grow tomatoes and we'd still be "on topic". (Actually native vegetables might be a good thread...)

Anyway, from an ecological standpoint, even moving plants across a river or mountain range can create problems. Even so, I think a good defense of the pre-settlement definition is that it really was the widespread conbination of land clearing and introduction of exotics that caused the most problems. Native people didn't clear entire mountain ranges of trees, so introductions didn't have as much effect.

Sorry for not being clear. I was speaking of peoples native to the North American continent generally, the land mass that's called America specifically.

The vegetables you mentioned ARE native...to South America. I like and grow some of those, anyway. ;-)

The forum is for plants indigenous to North America. Not that I mind talking about plants from anywhere else. And not that ones better or worse.

I have friends that will not plant any natives that were/are not native to their county. I won't go that far, but if someone hands me a plant with local genotype, I won't turn it down.

How great to have a cabin! Most people keep the area around their house tamed for ease of access and to make city inspectors happy, so I would do my traditional plantings nearest to the cabin. You can always remove them later if you go totally native, which can happen if you keep reading these forums. Just don't plant any big non native shrubs or native trees which can be hard to remove.

I would want that dirt area planted fast. I would contact a place like prairie moon and get a mix of native grasses and put it down right away. To be honest, I would personally even put down sod, just to keep the dirt from running off into the lake. It's not native, but its fast. I found it was easier to peel up sod then to remove a wild bed of non-native weeds. Maybe I'm wrong on this. Need someone more expert than me.

I would also not plan too much at first. Just find a good mail order supplier, and plant something native - a bush that attracts birds, a vine, a small butterfly garden from seed. Once you get anything in the ground, it seems to make each next step easier. Searching the native forums gets really great advice on plant choices. The hard part is keeping the list short. A lot of wildflowers don't bloom until the second year, but planting them from seed lets you see what the sprouts look like.

You probably have a lot of free natives all around you. Most of them don't get a chance to grow because we move our lawns. If you have some spots away from the house that aren't mowed, you will find valuable natives lurking, that can be used for seed source. It is a lot of fun to identify the good from the bad in your wild areas. This forum is one of the best ways to identify plants.

My state gov web site has lists of endangered and threatened species. We can buy seeds and even plants for many of these on the net. I am making a goal to add a few each year. I figure their seeds will be spread by birds to other areas helping to rebuild the species. Some are really pretty plants.

Sorry for the long post. Also I found the prairie forum gave great insight into native plantings. I was raised to landscape. I had to change my head to accept grasses mixed with flowers. Many wild flowers require the support of grasses. Now I have a lovely plot of sundrops because I left them surrounded by grasses. I killed the only trillium in my yard when I pruned the bush that was shading it and it shriveled. A patch of wildflowers and tall grass can still be used in landscape design, just call it part of an 'English Cottage' garden.

I would spend some time learning what types of native plants grow naturally in the area around the cabin and trying to grow those species. Every location has a unique set of climate, soils, and history that leads to a unique set of locally-common plants. These plants are likely to be your best bets for planting around the cabin. It shouldn't take long to discover what types of plants are common, and those that catch your eye will be the ones to plant.

You wrote that you don't want to dig up native plants, but I think careful digging is the best way to get locally-adapted plants. I think digging a local seedling is far less damaging than introducing a plant from 100s of miles away, which may be the same species as local plants but might have very different genetic makeup. Who knows how the introduction of plants from far away will change the genetic makeup of the local plants? Of course there are certain plants that shouldn't be dug unless they are going to be destroyed by development or some similar situation. These plants include many orchids, some rare wildlfowers, etc.

Almost all native plants produce excess seed and seedlings - more than can mature into adult plants(orchids, some forest floor plants are exceptions). I think if you search around a stand of a plant like a gooseberry, for example, you'll find numerous seedlings trying to grow under the parent plant or very close to other seedlings. In my opinion carefully digging up a couple of these seedlings will not do any damage to the wild population, and will give you something to plant in the garden. Another source of wild plants may be semi-wild areas around the cabin such as occasionally-mown lawns or flower beds. Wild seedlings will appear in these areas and you could move them to better locations. Many wildlfowers spread into clumps, and a small portion of a large clump could become the start for new plants without removing or significantly damaging the original clump. In addition, many dirt roads are maintained by periodically grading the road and roadside ditches and banks. In the years between grading wildflowers often become established, only to be destroyed when it is time for road maintenance. If you inquire about road maintenance schedules you might find a road that is going to be graded and find a few wildlfowers growing near the road that you could collect. Finally, almost all wild plants produce enough seed that you can collect some without impacting wild seedling production. One nice thing about seeds is that you could grow the seedlings at home where you can take care of them, then move them to the cabin when it is convenient. In every case you will have to judge for yourself whether collecting a few plants is doing any damage to the wild population.

In conclusion, I think the best way to decide what to plant is to examine what grows wild in the area of the cabin. I would probably find ways to gather plants from the area rather than try to buy plants and import them.

See Landscape plants for inland NW...one of their publications may be useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pacific NW Water