Garden Discovery Looking For A Garden Theme? Try One With Historical Ties - The Lewis And Clark Expedition

This summer’s a great time to plant a garden with a historical theme unique to the Pacific Northwest - the impending 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The 1804 expedition makes a perfect theme for a regional history garden. A Lewis and Clark garden revolves around all of the plants, shrubs and trees that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark noted in their journals as they traveled through this region.

The plants, already well-known to Native Americans, were new to botanists in the early 1800s. Among the hundreds of plants Lewis and Clark recorded in their journals were orange honeysuckle, bear grass, syringa, Clarkia, scarlet gila, huckleberry, Oregon grape and trees such as Western white pine and Western red cedar.

All of these plants and many others will grow readily in contemporary gardens because they are native to the region.

A Lewis and Clark-themed garden is ideal for those looking for a low-maintenance garden.

“We’ll use bark mulch around the plants and no grass so there’s no mowing,” said Mike Bowman, an urban forester instrumental in creating a public Lewis and Clark garden in Lewiston. “Because this type of garden uses native plants, it has low water and fertilizer requirements.”

Research is part of the fun, and reading Paul Russell Cutright’s book “Lewis & Clark: Pioneering Naturalists” is an easy way to learn more. Cutright edited the explorers’ journals to include only references to plants, birds and animals.

Finding the plants for a Lewis and Clark garden does not mean heading for the woods with a shovel and bucket, however. Regulations restrict digging some plants on public lands.

Most plants on gardeners’ lists are available through specialty nurseries, a better option than gathering them from the wild.

For Lewiston’s garden, Bowman ordered the bulk of plants from Forest Farm Nursery in Medford, Ore. A good local source is Plants of the Wild in Tekoa, Wash., which also makes plants available at Smart Gardens at Bigelow Gulch and Argonne. Other sources of native plants include Green Things Nursery in Orofino, Idaho, and Buffalo Berry Farm in Lake Fork, Idaho.

But gardeners planting a Lewis and Clark garden, or any native-themed garden, should expect some misfires, Bowman said.

“Every tree you stick in the ground doesn’t live,” he said.

Gardeners can see a Lewis and Clark garden during the development phase at the Steelhead Boat Launch on the Clearwater River in Lewiston (on Highway 12 just east of intersection with Highway 195 from Pullman).

Trees have been planted on the three-acre site, but much of the area is still covered with shredded bark, grass and weeds. By October, though, Lewiston’s Grubby Knuckles garden club will have completed the planting of flowers and shrubs, and wheelchair accessible trails will wind through the gardens.

“Our focus is the educational aspects of the garden, so ours will be rather formal in nature,” Bowman said while strolling through the site recently. “One of our main questions when we designed it was how visitors can best study the individual plants.”

Detailed signs will be posted by each plant or tree, explaining the growing habits and any unusual references about it in the Lewis and Clark journals.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition floated by the site of the new garden on Oct. 10, 1805. Bowman plans an October dedication of the public garden and is aiming for Oct. 10.

Home gardeners planting Lewis and Clark-themed gardens this year will have the same advantage as the new public garden - most plants and shrubs will be mature in time for the anniversary of the actual expedition, 2004-2006.

This sidebar appeared with the story: GARDEN THEMES

Using plants mentioned in a body of literature creates an interesting theme for a garden. Some gardeners are inspired by the Lewis and Clark journals, other gardeners turn to Shakespeare (see story page D1), or the Bible.

Sunset Park in Lewiston contains a Scripture Garden, planted as an Eagle Scout project, with plants mentioned in Scripture that will grow in Lewiston’s climate.

The Fantasy Garden World in Richmond, British Columbia, near Vancouver also contains a collection of plants mentioned in the Bible accompanied by life-sized statues of biblical figures.

Following is a list of native plants that would be appropriate in a Lewis & Clark-themed garden:

large mountain brome grass; mariposa lily; camas; scarlet gila; buckbrush; beautiful clarkia; yellow fawn lily; blue bunch wheatgrass; yellow bell; ocean spray; yellow-flowering pea; Oregon grape; Cascade penstemon; biscuit root; Lewis’ mock orange; Nootka rose; rayless camomile; narrow-leaved skullcap; false hellebore; snowberry; orange honeysuckle; silky lupine; bear grass