Camano garden is a symphony between wildlife, native plants

CAMANO ISLAND — Kathryn Wells is the first to say her yard would never appear on the cover of Better Homes &Gardens.

It just isn’t that sort.

Even so, the five-acre property she and her husband, Ken Johnson, own on south Camano Island is a highlight of this year’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Garden Tour.

The focus at the Wells-Johnson place is on wildlife, native plants and low maintenance.

The mindset is: Let the grass die; let the weeds (except the noxious kind) grow; slowly take out the lawn; expand the forest inward; house and provide water for bats, birds and frogs; grow a vegetable and fruit garden that also provides for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

And, yes, let the deer and rabbits nibble a bit.

The picture windows in the house are decorated with ribbons that flap in the wind. Birds don’t try to fly through the closed windows anymore, Wells said.

On a sunny morning after a late spring rain on Camano, Wells’ garden smelled wonderful.

Scents from a long-established flower garden mingled with the sweet pungent odor of wet leaves.

If they aren’t at their jobs or running errands, Wells and Johnson can be found out in their yard. There isn’t another place they would rather be.

Gardens on the tour range from small to large, simple to extravagant and forested to waterfront, tour volunteer Val Schroeder said.

“Besides being a lovely garden tour, this event gives people a chance to see how others live happily in harmony with nature just by providing food, water, shelter and places where young birds and animals can be raised,” said Schroeder, who, with more than 800 property owners on the island, was instrumental in getting the National Wildlife Federation to name Camano the 10th community in the nation to certify as a wildlife habitat.

Information on native plants, composting, mulching and more will be available on the tour.

Wells plans to post interpretive signs for the tour as well as call attention to the birdbaths, brush cover and other wildlife habitat basics on the property.

She also plans to warn people not to touch her patches of stinging nettles. They make great tea and add spice to casseroles, but even the deer don’t want to walk through nettles.

“But nettles are a host plants for butterflies,” Wells said.

In her yard, look for native blackberry vine, which serves as a ground cover.

The garden has numerous fern species, mature madrona trees, grand firs, Douglas firs, Western red cedar, hemlock, silver fir, Sitka spruce, Oregon white oak, big leaf maples, alder, willow, salal, huckleberry, salmonberry, thimbleberry, native rose, Indian plum, Oregon grape and non-native, but drought-tolerant birches.

Many small conifers are planted under the maples, simulating a regenerating native forest.

A graduate of Cornell University, Wells works as an outreach educator for the Snohomish Conservation District. She buys many of her native plants at the conservation district’s annual plant sale.

Her colorful and multi-textured front flower bed — with rhubarb, vine maple, red-flowering currant, day lilies, peonies, Russian sage, hydrangea, Japanese maples, lilac and lavender — might seem a bit unkempt to some gardeners. However, it provides shelter for birds and other creatures.

The fenced vegetable and berry garden is topped by a bat box. Bats and wasps do a good job taking care of insect pests, Wells said.

Growing in the garden are tomatoes, berries, lettuce, kale, onions, garlic, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, squashes and nasturtiums for the humming birds. In the yard are apple and pear trees.

A few years ago, Wells and Johnson built a greenhouse from a kit. While it is empty in summer, it provides a great space for vegetable and flower starts in the winter and spring.

Wells is pleased to be on the tour, she said.

“I am eager to share ideas for creating and enhancing habitat,” Wells said. “I just try to help creatures have a home.”

Wells grew up in a suburb of Lincoln, Nebraska, in a new housing development built on farmland that previously had been carved out of the prairie.

“We didn’t have much wildlife,” she said. “I got excited when I saw a house sparrow. I treasured my wildlife encounters.”

As a girl, Wells posted a sign on her family’s sliding glass door so that the birds could know they were welcome in the trees in her yard: Silverleaf Maple Motel, Pine Tree Inn, Pin Oak Hotel and Crabapple Inn.

“I continue trying new things to invite and nurture the birds, amphibians, insects, snakes and mammals that visit or live around us.”

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.

Garden tour

The eighth annual Camano Island Backyard Wildlife Habitat Garden Tour is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 27. Pick up your free self-guided tour map at the Camano Multipurpose Center, 141 N. East Camano Drive. For more information about the tour, sponsored by Camano Wildlife Habitat Project of Friends of Camano Island Parks, go to www.camanowildlifehabitat.org or call 360-387-2236.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.