Native plant walk offered at Klamath County Museum

Sticky purple geranium is among the native plants in bloom this week at the Klamath County Museum. A tour of the museum’s native plant gardens is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 2. (Submited Photo)

Klamath Falls, Ore. – A nature walk highlighting dozens of locally native flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees will be offered at the Klamath County Museum will be offered at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 2.

The free event is cosponsored by the museum and the Klamath Basin Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon. The museum is located at 1451 Main St. in Klamath Falls.

“Native plants have a natural ability to survive the challenging weather we have in the Basin, and can serve as a low-maintenance alternative to conventional landscaping,” said Todd Kepple, manager of the Klamath County Museum. “One of the primary reasons we maintain our native plant gardens is to help local homeowners see the diverse types of plants available.”

Wildflowers that are in bloom at the museum this week include wooly mule’s ear, western wallflower, nineleaf biscuitroot, Oregon sunshine, sticky purple geranium, sulfur buckwheat, tansyleaf suncup, silver-leaf phacelia and hot rock penstemon.

Many of the Klamath Basin’s most common trees are growing at the museum, including Oregon white oak, incense-cedar and white fir. Less-common trees include California black oak, western redcedar, bigleaf maple, vine maple, Pacific yew, and Oregon ash.

The museum also has several plants that are of importance to Native American people of the region, including ipos, narrow-leaf onion, nettle and wild celery.

The museum will provide a “Top 10” list of native plants that are easy to obtain, grow well in a garden, and provide pleasing flowers or foliage.

Sources of native plants for the garden will be discussed, as well as methods for successful transplanting.

A small selection of nursery-grown native plants will be available for sale at the museum Saturday.

For more information contact the Klamath County Museum at (541) 882-1000.

Press release provided from the Klamath County Museum.