Category: What’s Growing?

April Greetings, Gardeners!!

Wow, it really is April! How is it that I am already behind in my spring garden chores? But I have set my weeder down just long enough to remind you that our next meeting is this coming Tuesday and it promises to be a lot of fun!! 

OUR MEETING: Larry Thompson, the owner of Thompson Farms, will be talking with us and sharing his insight on growing vegetables! Thompson Farms is located at 24727 SE Bohna Park Rd in Damascus. His vegetable stand is at the corner of 242nd and Bohna Park Rd in Damascus, where you can find all kinds of fresh, delicious farm grown veggies and fruits! Start jotting down all your questions, whether you grow your vegetables in raised beds, containers, or right in the ground!  Wait….Did I hear you just mutter, “But I don’t grow any vegetables!” 

Well, never say “never”…. Larry’s enthusiasm for vegetables quite contagious! So lettuce keep an open mind. 

As always, social hour starts at 9:15! Our hosts are Julie Lund, Patti Taylor, Gayle Ely, and Mary Horton. 

COFFEE CHAT:  We decided to celebrate the arrival of spring by making this month’s coffee chat a little different…. it will be on April 28^th, at the Oswego Grill! This time we are meeting at 11:00 am, when they open.  They have quite a menu, so you can have just coffee, or a lovely little lunch.   Since we will want to make reservations, we need a general number of members that are planning to attend. Please sign the sign up sheet at our meeting on Tuesday, or email me (if you won’t be at the meeting)

FUN STUFF: And lastly, I wanted to remind you, in case you missed it…The Backyard Habitat Happy Valley Garden Tour is fast approaching!  It is on Sunday, April 18^th, from 10-12:30.  

Here is the invitation Kate Kaufmann sent…

Have you always wanted to get your neighbor, friend, or relative interested in Backyard Habitat? Let’s inspire them together! Please join Backyard Habitat and four platinum or gold certified participants in their yards for a special, open to the public, Open Garden Tour in Happy Valley.

We would love for you to bring a companion curious about the program to observe the benefits of integrating native plants, wildlife habitat, and stormwater management into our yards to support wildlife and build resilient gardens. You may even get free seeds or plants from the hosts’ yards!

When: Saturday, 4/18/26, 10am-1230pm

Who is invited: Participants and companions who lives in Happy Valley, Gladstone, Milwaukie, West Linn, Damasus, or Unincorporated Clackamas county! 

Cost: FREE!

Register Here for Route and Details.

Any questions about the event can be directed to Kate Kauffman at kkauffman@columbialandtrust.org.

Hope to see you there!

Kate Kauffman | Backyard Habitat Certification Program Technician Lead 

 Looking forward to seeing you soon! 

Wendy  

Check out the goings-on at the District Luncheon on April 2!

District Luncheon – April 2, 2026 (plus recipe)

Passed on from the Clumbia Land Trust:

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program would like to invite you to our special event, The Backyard Habitat Happy Valley Garden Tour! Several Backyard Habitat participants are graciously opening their yards in the Happy Valley and Oatfield neighborhoods for guests to observe the benefits of integrating native plants, wildlife habitat, and stormwater management into our yards to support wildlife and build resilient gardens.

When: Saturday, 4/18/26, 10am-1230pm

Who is invited: Anyone who lives in Clackamas County! You do not need to be enrolled in Backyard Habitat. Bring a neighbor or a friend!

Cost: FREE!

Register Here for Route and Details

Any questions about the event can be directed to Kate Kauffman at kkauffman@columbialandtrust.org.

Our Clackamas Clippings for April has been added under Resources. Click on this link to go to it in our members only area. Lots of great information – including the District Luncheon, which is coming up fast!

Clackamas Clippings – April 2026

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program would like to invite you to our special event, The Backyard Habitat Happy Valley Garden Tour! Several Backyard Habitat participants are graciously opening their yards in the Happy Valley and Oatfield neighborhoods for guests to observe the benefits of integrating native plants, wildlife habitat, and stormwater management into our yards to support wildlife and build resilient gardens.

When: Saturday, 4/18/26, 10am-1230pm

Who is invited: Anyone who lives in Happy Valley, Oatfield, Johnson City, or Milwaukie! You do not need to be enrolled in Backyard Habitat. Bring a neighbor or a friend!

Cost: FREE!

Register Here

Details: Participants may drive or walk to any of our host’s yards within the timeframe of the event:

Christopher’s yard, 9325 SE Dundee Dr, Happy Valley
Over the last 5 years, Christopher has completely re-landscaped his wooded yard, removing the lawn and non-native trees and shrubs and replacing them with native plants, shrubs and trees to qualify for platinum certification! He has noticed his efforts have resulted in a sharp increase in birds, pollinators and other wildlife coming to his yard, and he notes the smell and feel of the yard has shifted. He has been able to reduce his watering significantly since his plants have established, and his efforts have reduced the soil erosion on his slopes.  

Sheila’s yard, 11466 SE Hidalgo Ct, Clackamas
Sheila’s home sits at the sloped edge of Mt Talbert Natural Area. She has taken inspiration from the park’s restoration efforts and has native plants throughout her yard, including a volunteer Oregon white oak and sun-loving native flowers in her front yard, and more shade loving natives such as western redcedar and woodland shrubs in her backyard. She has a native hedgerow underway and has been successful in transplanting plants as they continue to grow. Her yard is chock full of wildlife stewardship features such as deadwood, a snag, and water baths, and she has restored her soils through removal of lawn and sheet-mulching. Her efforts have qualified for platinum, and she can see the results from the wildlife that lives with her.

Ryan and Christen’s yard, 12125 SE Solstice Ct, Happy Valley
Ryan and Christen started their journey with a yard full of pea gravel and paving stones and a single raised bed. With the support of Backyard Habitat and a landscaping crew, they turned their yard into a fairy garden with paths made of natural reused materials. Over time, they have weaved native plants in with a food forest full of berries and fruits and tree houses for fairy-watching, that keeps them and their daughter visiting their yard through the year. They harnessed their rainwater by creating two rain gardens, and hope to remove the lawn from our front yard and create a new rain garden and a crevice garden in the future. This gold-certified yard is sure to delight all of your senses!

Kary’s yard, 6924 SE Molt St, Milwaukie
Kary started her journey by transforming a weedy front yard on a sloping hill into a 40 ft winding creek bed lined with rocks and planted full of native plants. This platinum certified yard is now full to bursting with a diverse array of native plants intermixed with favorite ornamentals. The rain catchment system attracts native wildlife and is ripe with life when it warms up in the warmer months.  She has carefully shifted her gardening habits to care for the dwellers in her soil, stems, and plants. Her close observations have allowed her to find pollinators napping in the foliage, a sure sign that they feel safe in her yard.  She is eager to share her observations of seasonal bird and pollinator habits, and her creative strategies for naturescaping on a budget.

Accessibility and Etiquette:
•    Participants may walk through our host’s yards. Please respect the yards by staying on paths, shutting gates behind you, refraining from picking plants, and asking before taking photographs.
•    The tour may require driving between sites. Park in any open spaces near the host’s site. Please respect neighbors as you decide on your parking choices.
•    The tour will be outdoors. Come prepared for all common weather conditions.
•    Bathrooms within the tour host’s homes will generally not be available to the tour. If you have an urgent need, we will accommodate your request as best we can.
•    The tour may be cancelled for inclement weather, which would be temperatures over 95 degrees, thunder & lightning, and air quality index of 150 or greater. We can inform registered guests last minute if we cancel, so we appreciate you registering.

Any questions about the event can be directed to Kate Kauffman at kkauffman@columbialandtrust.org.

Save the Date ~ Annual Open Nursery & Garden Sale Mark your calendars, so you don’t miss the ONE weekend a year we open to the public. Join us Saturday May 16th & Sunday May 17th, 2025 at Rare Plant Research  for our Annual Open Nursery & Garden Sale 11a-4pm both days.  A great chance to get your hands on some unique and exciting plants or just see what’s in the greenhouses! The gardens will be open to stroll through, whether you’re looking for inspiration or to see our 12ft metal dragon. This event is free to attend. Our winery, Villa Catalana Cellars, will be open for tasting and sales. No reservations will be needed for the winery this day.

Hello again Garden Club members! So, as it turns out, I did forget to mention a couple things…

1. SILENT AUCTION:

If you were at the February meeting, you might remember that when we asked what our club could donate to the silent auction for the Clackamas District Spring Luncheon on April 2nd, Katherene Kerner generously offered a beautiful floral lap quilt that she made! (Thank you so much Katherene!)      

Anyway, I was thinking about that beautiful lap quilt, and came up with an idea… maybe our club could put together a “Relaxation” themed auction basket, centered around Katherene’s gorgeous lap quilt!  I asked Katherene and she agreed that it might be a fun idea too! I would be happy to put the basket together, if a few of you wouldn’t mind donating some items to put in the basket…. what do you think?      

So…..If you would like to contribute to the auction basket with a little something, please let me know, so we don’t have duplicates. Items might be a gardening magazine, a novel, a box of special tea or hot chocolate, a box of cookies, a plant catalog, a gardening diary, hand cream, a gardening puzzle, or a spring candle…. that kind of thing.  You might have some other great ideas!  It just needs to follow that Relaxation theme. 

If you would like to contribute a little something to our basket, you could bring your item to our meeting on Tuesday or I can pick it up from you sometime in the next couple of weeks….

        

Katherene’s quilt: 

2. SALES TABLE:

 Also, if you have anything you would like to donate to the Spring Luncheon sales table, please bring those donations to our meeting this Tuesday, or to the luncheon on April 2nd if you are attending.  These sale items can be just about anything that is in decent condition that you just don’t need anymore, and it doesn’t have to be garden related.  It can be a lovely vase you don’t use anymore, a pile of fabric you won’t be using,  garden tools you don’t need, a pile of gently used novels you are done with, a very nice Santa decoration you don’t want anymore, whatever!  Every year members find treasures at the sales table!  There’s all kinds of goodies!   

I hope you’re planning to attend!  It will be so much more fun if you are there! 

Enjoy your Sunday!  See you soon! Wendy

Hello Wonderful Friends!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying this soft unfurling of an early spring! There are a couple things to share, so I will try to keep it concise and easy to read.

Most importantly, I am sure you have read Julie’s email by now and know that our dear friend Leta Wyler recently passed away.  This is such a great loss to anyone who had the blessed privilege of knowing her, as Leta was a warm, caring, and fun-loving friend to all.  One of Leta’s daughters, Patty, called me this morning and asked that I pass some information on to our members.  Patty and her sister, Cindy, are busy trying to work through all the logistics and it will definitely take time.  Patty wanted to share with everyone that Leta’s final resting place will be in the Willamette National Cemetery, with her husband Ed.  Also, they will have a Celebration of Life sometime in the future, but both of those events are still in the planning stages.  Leta’s pastor is out of town until the 12th, so they have to wait until he’s back, so they can further plan.  As Patty and Cindy figure things out, they will let me know, and have asked that I share it with all of you.  There are so many people Leta knew and they are trying to find a way to keep everyone informed while still trying to get done all that needs to be done.  In the meantime, if you have any special photos of Leta, please set them aside, as Patty and Cindy are considering a slide show for the Celebration of Life and might be asking us for photos.  They will let us know, so let’s wait for their word on that.

I also want to let you know that we will have our next meeting this coming Tuesday (March 10), at the church.  Social hour starts at 9:15! Our speaker is Dakota Hufford and she is an entomologist from the Clackamas Basin Council.  She will be sharing with us the importance of dragonflies, and probably a few other invertebrates! She loves her work, so it will be interesting to see what she has to say!  Our hosts are Elizabeth Cathey, Katherene Kerner, Helen Nolen, and Lona Azar! 

Also, if you are planning to go to the Clackamas Spring Luncheon on April 2, please be sure to bring a check for $25 to our meeting this coming Tuesday! Checks should be made out to the Happy Valley Garden Club.  Our treasurer, Sandy Platz, will be collecting those.  Please note that the Spring Luncheon invitation below has two pages – with location, time, and so forth.  You don’t need to fill anything out, but on Tuesday, be sure to let Sandy know if you have a food preference when you give her your check, so she can make note of it.

I sincerely hope you will consider attending the Clackamas Spring Luncheon!  It promises to be one of our best!  All members are invited and it’s always more fun when YOU are there!!! Sherry Sheng will be speaking and she has so many tips on how to be successful with all kinds of plants!  She has played an enormous role in the Master Gardener 10-minute University too!  There will be a sales table, a raffle, and a silent auction, so it promises to be a fun and educational morning! 

Our Coffee Chat will be on March 31st  at the Food Carts off of Sunnyside.  There’s a great little coffee/sandwich kiosk which serves wonderful breakfast delights!  We’ve been there before and it’s usually fairly quiet at the time we meet (9:30 am).  Watch the weather, as it can be a little cool in there in the morning!

I think that is everything for now.  If I have forgotten anything, I’ll write again…. otherwise,  see you on Tuesday!!

Stay dry and stay warm!

Wendy

Thanks for forwarding this, Priscilla! Check out the informational sessions available on March 28 at the Milwaukie Center!