Meadowscaping Brings Life to Portland Gardens.

Lawns may be common, but they provide little benefit to bugs, bees, and birds—nor do they filter storm water well. That’s why Columbia Land Trust has partnered up with Pacific Northwest Urban Meadowscaping. Our collective goal is to create an easy-to-implement program that will inspire homeowners to replace their non-native grass lawns with gorgeous Willamette Valley native prairies and meadows.

Native plants with charming names such as farewell to spring, blue-eyed Mary, and Oregon sunshine all are native and provide food sources and habitat for insects, which in turn provides food for birds. (You can find the whole plant list here.)

Visit one of these gardens, and typically you’ll find it buzzing with life, exactly what we like to see. Thank you to West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Xerces Society, Metro, and all of the landscape professionals and urban ecologists who are working together to make Portland and surrounds a wilder, more wonderful pace! —Gaylen Beatty