The Weather at Fidalgo Island, Washington

■ Beginning around 18,000 years ago, these islands were sculpted by the Cordilleran ice sheet.  The soil left behind is called Vashon till: sand, rocks and clay. 

■ The site exposure is southeast, with a slope to the beach.  This is directly facing into the prevailing salt-laden windstorms.

■ The effect of the Olympic Rain Shadow has been discussed. Virtually no rain at all from mid-May to mid-September is not unusual.

■ Mature Douglas firs on the site send out networks of shallow rootlets which efficiently consume all moisture and nutrients from the soil.

Poor soil, salt air, low summer rainfall, pests and competition from the firs require looking to nature for strategies.  Plant selection follows a woodland theme and includes both natives and their ornamental counterparts.  Attention to drought and wind resistance is also important.

Common Name

Scientific Name

Douglas Fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii

Nootka Rose

Rosa nutkana

Ocean Spray

Holodiscus discolor

Orange Honeysuckle

Lonicera ciliosa

Oregon Grape

Mahonia aquifolium

Pacific Madrone

Arbutus menziesii

Red Flowering Currant

Ribes sanguineum

Salal

Gaultheria shallon

Snowberry

Symphoricarpos albus (S. racemosus)

Western Hemlock

Tsuga heterophylla  

Western Red Cedar

Thuja plicata

Western Sword Fern

Polystichum munitum

Common Name

Scientific Name

Creeping Dogwood

Cornus canadensis

Douglas Iris

Iris douglasiana 

Kinnikinnick

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Oregon Iris

Iris tenax

Pacific Dogwood

Cornus nuttallii

Pacific Rhododendron 

Rhododendron macrophyllum

Sedum 'Cape Blanco'

Sedum spathulifolium

Shore Pine 

Pinus contorta contorta

Vine Maple 

Acer circinatum   

Columbian Black-tail Deer

Odocoileus hemionus columbianis

Common Raccoon

Procyon lotor

Cottontail Rabbit

Sylvilagus nuttalli

Coyote

Canis latrans

Deer Mouse

Peromyscus maniculatus

Douglas' Squirrel

Tamiasciurus douglasii

Sciurus carolinensis 

Little Brown Bat

Myotis lucifugus

Opossum

Didelphis virginiana 

Pacific Chorus Frog

Pseudacris regilla 

Puget Sound Garter Snake

Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii 

River Otter

Lontra canadensis 

Striped Skunk

Mephitis mephitis

Townsend's Chipmunk 

Tamias townsendii 

Alien Life Forms

An inspiration for Ridley Scott's "Alien" could well be the Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor).  Luther Burbank thought we needed a dry, tasteless berry with big hairy seeds and introduced them.  They have no diseases, parasites or predators to keep them in check.  The vines may grow two feet a day.  Cleared land can become an impenetrable 10 feet deep within 2 years.  They are designed to inflict pain and injury.  The canes grow to an inch thick and bear 3/4 inch thorns.  Their wrath cannot be avoided.  Every encounter means bleeding and pain.  The birds spread their seeds and seedlings cling tenaciously to the ground.  If vines touch the ground, a new plant will spring up.  The roots will also produce new plants.  It likes full sun, full shade, wet, dry, whatever you have.  Herbicides such as Roundup™ won't kill it.  It is the perfect life form, the plant version of the creature in Ridley Scott's film. 

With apologies to my friends in the UK, I must add English ivy (Hedera helix and H. hibernica) to my list of problem aliens.  It is magnificent growing on the stone walls of English country houses, where it belongs.  In the forests of the Northwest, however, it is a pest. It runs rampant over native vegetation choking it out. It grows up the trunks of Douglas firs and other trees.  Its roots penetrate the bark, allowing insects and diseases to enter the tree and kill it.  The European starling (another alien here) is especially fond of the ivy’s fruit, thus spreading the seeds.  This unfortunate symbiotic relationship only serves to extend both species into new territories.