The original item was published from May 31, 2016 8:34 AM to June 14, 2016 8:27 AM
26,740 plants sold to 582 Pre-Sale (169 more than last year), and Numerous Walk-Up Sale Customers
Long time Plant Sale volunteer, Keith Chadd, helps explain different plants and uses to the owner/operator of Buckley’s newest wedding venue, Brookstrom Creek.
A hearty thank you to native plant
enthusiasts who care about enhancing
our area’s landscape for the benefit
of its citizens and wildlife. And a
heartfelt thank you to the 32 wonderful
volunteers who helped make the plant
sale possible- we couldn’t do it without
you! A big thank you to: Sharon
Remagen, Sam Nohra, Rocky Hauge,
Chris Murphy, Allison Baur, Mary Taylor,
Dale Thompson, Jim Anderson, Hermine
Soler, Joyce and Dennis Anderson,
Brian Sullivan, Becky Dow and Family,
Steve Kastama, John Hilsendeger,
Keith Chadd, Bill Brookreson, Julie
and Ron Nyborg, Terry Knight, Paul
Chromey, Sharon Jaimis-Graeme, Terry
Robbins, Mike Viafore, Terry Maves,
Patrick Ryan, Sue Leland, Chuck
Natsuhara, Taylor and Avery Skaggs.
Many thanks to Woodbrook Nursery
who was on hand both days providing
potted native plants species unavailable
through this year’s sale. Also back again
this year was Dan Borba from Natural
Rainwater, educating folks on the benefits
of capturing and using rain water
in his rain barrels repurposed from food
grade plastic containers. Through funding
provided by the Puyallup Watershed
Initiative’s Forest Resources Roundtable
Community of Interest, 7- gallon potted
street trees and accompanying watering
bags were available for sale at a
very low cost on the pick-up days.
Long-time plant sale customer Quahlee
Lassila of Chehalis was the lucky winner
of the drawing held for customers
who placed their orders early. Along with her plant order, she took home
a 60 gallon rain barrel assembled by
Dan Borba of Natural Rainwater, to
help her keep her new plants watered
throughout their critical first summer.
A Plant Sale customer
happily picking out plants from our
partners at Woodbrook Nursery.

Orders not picked up and approximately
100 plants leftover from the walk-up
sale were given to: Foothills Rails to
Trails, Immanuel Presbyterian Church in
Tacoma for their annual plant exchange,
Tahoma Audubon, and City of Tacoma/
Metro Parks/Friends of Ryan’s Park.
We strive to bring you quality native
plant stock at low prices, and hope your
plants are doing well and are beginning
to put on new growth. Please let us
know if you have had any plants that
died immediately in spite of your best
efforts. A note on evergreen shrubs
such as snowbrush, redstem ceanothus,
and tall Oregon grape- they may be
withered and brown
and look dead, but
don’t give up on
them yet! Here is
some information
from the nursery
we purchased
them from:
“The best thing to
do is to scratch the
stems and see if they
are still green. Some
plants, especially evergreen ones, do go into a kind of
shock and can have their leaves turn
brown, but usually will come out of it
fine and push new leaves. I checked
our stock and they look pretty terrible-
the leaves are all brown, but the
stems are still green when I scratched
them. It can take them almost a year
to fully develop its new leaves, so
don't give up yet. Hopefully it won't
take that long but your plants may
be using their energy to grow roots
now, not new leaves yet. Even though
it seems like spring to us, it may take
some plants more time to start growing.
If you can, be patient for a while
longer, as it could take them a couple
months to really start looking better.”
Give your plants until the next plant
sale to make an improvement. If they
do not come around by then, we will be
happy to give you a coupon for plants
of the same value for the 2017 plant
sale. Remember to make sure and water
your plants at least once a week to help
get them through their first summer.
We look forward to seeing you at the
plant sale next year and always look
forward to hearing about how your
plants are doing from previous years.
Look for the 2017 pre-order form in
the fall edition of the Tahoma View,
and as with last year, you can also
order on-line at
www.piercenativeplantsale.com starting in October.