The 2024 Spring Sparrowhawk FOBW Native Plant Sale was a huge success! All in all, 480 habitat gardeners picked up 6,300 pre-ordered native plants on Friday and Saturday morning the last week of April. Additionally, about 50 folks showed up for the overstock flash sale on Saturday afternoon and cleaned out the lot. This was the very first time we didn’t have one single plant left over at the sale’s end! Together, Sparrowhawk staff and Friends of Baltimore Woods volunteers helped every one of more than 7,000 plants find new, loving homes. These plants will fight the good fight to support pollinators, wildlife, and help promote climate resiliency. The sale…

When we last wrote of our propagation project, we had sown seeds of 8 species of wildflowers and 3 species of grasses into planting containers in a greenhouse setting so that we could have many new, healthy plants for the Baltimore Woods meadow. We found, with a couple of exceptions, that our seeds germinated well, and we spent many weeks this spring planting the first small grass and lomatium plants into the meadow, as they had outgrown their nursery pots and needed to be transplanted to their permanent home. We hoped to take advantage of the generous spring rains for these few hardy species. However now, as the warm season…

On the warm sunny morning of May 30th, thirty 6th, 7th and 8th grade students from Catlin Gable School arrived with their teachers and chaperones for a community service day in the woods. After introductions, a tool safety talk and an exploratory scavenger hunt in the Lower Meadow, the students were divided into 2 groups of mixed age levels. One group tackled the ivy and blackberry patch under a large mature big leaf maple, the remaining pulled sweet pea vines that were choking native shrubs in the Upper Woodland.  The students were focused, hard working and a joy to supervise with their attentive instructors and adult partners. They saw turkey…

Baltimore Woods’ 7-acre meadow is blooming with an assortment of native wildflowers that can easily be viewed from the gravel path that runs approximately north-south through the grassy habitat. The Friends and their partners at Portland Parks and the Bureau of Environmental Services have planted many of the native wildflowers. The meadows are being restored for the benefit of ground nesting birds and pollinators. Both are experiencing declining numbers due to a loss of habitat. The Friends ask that walkers stay on the path to allow birds enough undisturbed space for ground-nesting. Walkers can start a stroll on N. Decatur at N. Baltimore, or at N. Decatur at N. Catlin.…

The Friends of Baltimore Woods are delighted to announce the recent acquisition of a new parcel nicknamed Acorn Acre near the North Reno Entrance of the Baltimore Woods Natural Area. Purchasing of this lot, formally known as the Erickson Property, has long been on the back burner FOBW “To Do” list, until the spring of 2023 when a realtor “For Sale” sign was posted on North Reno, alerting the board into action. Over the summer, a weekend neighborhood petition drive gathered over 120 signatures in favor of protecting the lot, plus many emails and phone calls to Metro, Portland Parks and Bureau of Environmental Services were made. The most significant…

The longer warmer days of summer are here. The Friends of Baltimore Woods weekly Thursday evening Golden Hour Work Parties have begun. Every Thursday, weather permitting, we will host the hour-long volunteer parties from 7 to 8 pm. It’s a wonderful way to relax at the end of the day, get some fresh air, exercise, and meet new generous-spirited people. Please visit our web calendar for weekly locations, a brief description of the work we will be doing that day, tips for what to wear and who will be leading. In the event of extremely hot weather, the event may be cancelled. Be sure to check the FOBW website calendar.…

Jane Hartline, owner of Sauvie Island Natives, is a dedicated and generous supporter of native plants for landscaping and propagation within the Portland metro area. She is an advocate for use of native plants as a wonderful gardening option.  In the past, she has often donated to the habitat restoration mission of FOBW. So it was welcome news when she again informed us that 25% of all sales on Saturday September 16, 2023 would be donated to the Friends of Baltimore Woods. Jane rounded that total up to $300! A win-win for your garden, native plants provide habitat for native pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies who have co-evolved…

Friends of Baltimore Woods will again be partnering with Sparrowhawk Native Plants for our annual native plant sale in St. Johns on April 26 and 27 this spring.  The sale takes place this year in the St. Johns Church parking lot located at 8044 North Richmond Avenue, a block east of last year’s sale location. Pre-ordering online begins Sunday February 25th and lasts until March 24 or until plant supplies last, additionally you are now able to window-shop the 100 native species for sale on the Sparrowhawk website. Every Spring and Fall, Sparrowhawk Native Plants partners with community organizations around the Metro region, providing eco-minded gardeners the opportunity to order…

This fall the Friends of Baltimore Woods were indeed fortunate when Garrett Kaiser of Scout Troop 71, focused his beam of Eagle Scout volunteer light on the slippery dirt trail along the undeveloped portion of North Alta Avenue, which is a trail that walkers can use to access the postage stamp sized parcel of Baltimore Woods known as the Old Oak Lot. To earn Eagle Scout status, one needs to plan, organize and provide leadership on a beneficial community service project.  To increase the safety for walkers, Garrett chose to mobilize his troop members to build a set of stairs and a hand rail along the steep dirt path. In…

What would happen if the Friends of Baltimore Woods (FOBW) had access to rare and unusual native plants, beyond the familiar favorites Portland Parks can provide? How would we plant them in the Baltimore Woods Lower Meadow, which was once covered in asphalt, and has hot, dry clay soil in summer? And what would be the best way to plant them, so that they aren’t in soil either too rich or too hard-packed for them to succeed? These are questions we hope to answer, thanks to a $3,000 grant from (Gardening in America) Garden Club of America.  When the Garden Club of Portland (PGC) approached Friends of Baltimore Woods with the…