Gardening with Friends

One Gardener's Approach to Creating a Gardening Community

We all know that pollinator habitats are suffering from climate change, pesticide use and irresponsible gardening practices. It’s ironic that we are threatening the very creatures necessary for our survival. It can seem hopeless at times and if you sometimes feel overwhelmed and discouraged, you are not alone.
A garden that welcomes pollinators can improve our sense of well being, provide beauty and interest, and help our planet. It can also bring gardener’s together, to support and learn from each other. In the fight to save our pollinators, we can turn to each other, work together, and find support and friendship in community.
Carol McClain is a prolific gardener and a member of Pollinator Pathway NW. She believes that gardening with others is a way to foster friendships and spend time with like-minded people who want to be part of the pollinator pathway. Carol’s advice and assistance are helping people begin their gardening projects. Her approach to gardening is slow and systematic. She encourages education and an examination of what your garden can be.

Milk Jug Greenhouses

Carol uses milk jug greenhouses to start plant seeds. She chooses native plants because they partner best with our native pollinators. Milk jug greenhouses allow seeds to be planted and germinate outside in the winter by creating a warm “greenhouse” atmosphere for the plants. Germination time will depend on the specific seeds that were planted.
  1. Clean out a one-gallon milk jug and take off the top
  2. Poke some holes in the bottom
  3. Cut the jug in half horizontally
  4. Add soil to the bottom half and plant seeds
  5. Put the tow parts of  the jug back together and tape
  6. Set the milk jugs outside in the open to be watered by rain.

Free Nursery

The plants that sprout in the milk jug greenhouses become Carol’s free nursery. She offers these plants to friends to help get their gardens going. She also provides cuttings from plants in her own garden. Carol offers suggestions and advice on which plants will thrive in a garden setting. Her spreadsheet contains details on the best native plants.

Start with Good Soil

Some quality topsoil, free of neonics or pesticides, will give you a start. Then it’s important to add mulch. Mulch creates soil and this takes time. Gardening is about patience. Plants and soil have a harmonious relationship. Plants feed the micro climate in the soil and release minerals to make available to the soil. Mulch is important for plant survival as it keeps plants from freezing and keeps them cool in the summer.

Why Native Plants?

Do you have to plant native plants? And what are they anyway? Native plants occur naturally in a region and have a special relationship with the native bees, butterflies and other bugs. They have evolved together, allowing the insects to feed from and efficiently digest the native plant, resulting in the biodiversity necessary for healthy pollinators and effective pollination. Native plants require less water, less fertilizer, can prevent water run-off and improve air quality. Here is more info on why to plant natives.
Why don’t people plant native plants?
  • “I’ve heard Native plants aren’t pretty”
  • “I can’t find any at Fred Meyer”
  • “My soil is hard as a rock/all weeds/it’s all grass”
  • “If I don’t use chemicals, I’ll have weeds”
  • “Plants are expensive and anything I plant dies”
  • “I don’t know where to start”
These are all valid questions and concerns. Planting native plants is a bigger challenge, requiring more time, effort and knowledge. But the payoff is huge for pollinators.
Carol McClain offering information and advice at Pollinator Fest 2025

Gardening with Friends

Working with Carol, these four gardeners were able to take advantage of her wisdom and experience. They started their gardens months before it was time to plant, nurturing the soil and learning which plants would thrive where.

Karen's Shade Garden

Karen sought Carol’s advice to start refurbishing her large yard, which is mostly shady and had been left unattended for some time. Her property abuts an undeveloped woodland area and part of the yard had for years been a play area with layers of sand left after the play equipment was gone. Karen decided to cover the sand with a thick layer of mulch.
Carol’s advice was to start planting in the fall and give trees and shrubs a chance to winter over. She provided Karen with Sea Blush, Showy Milkweed, Western Yarrow, Snowberry and Marigolds.

Joan's Garden

Joan spent several years living a Southern California urban life with little opportunity for gardening. When she moved to the Pacific Northwest, she purchased a house with a large backyard. She wanted to be surrounded by trees and native plants and looked forward to fixing up her yard. Her property has several large native trees that provide beauty, areas of shade, and wonderful mulch.
In the spring of 2024, Joan reached out to Carol for advice on northwest gardens. Her future garden beds consisted mostly of grass and weeds, so her first step was to put down cardboard and a thick layer of mulch. All seemed well with her initial spring planting until she discovered her fenced backyard was no match for the rabbit and squirrel populations – they ate everything she planted! Joan installed chicken-wire fencing around her new gardens, and that helped tremendously.
During the 2025 spring and fall planting seasons, Joan planted a variety of native and non-native pollinator plants. Joan’s native plant selections included current, osoberry, snowberry, pacific rhododendron, sword fern, globe gilia, native iris, meadow checkermallow, large leaf lupine, penstemon, Oregon sunshine, and showy fleabane. She also chose some non-native, pollinator friendly plants including rhododendrons and hardy fuchsias.

Nancy's Garden

Nancy wanted to grow native plants but had difficulty knowing which plants to choose and where to place them. She wanted her garden to provide interest and texture and to screen her view of her neighbor’s driveway.
She prepared the ground by laying down newspaper, compost, and wood chips but didn’t know where to go from there. She wanted to keep her two fruit trees and some hydrangeas.
The fruit trees and hydrangeas were good choices for screening. To provide additional screening and interest she did a spring planting of currant, ninebark, serviceberry and wax myrtle. Last fall she added showy fleabane, penstemon, native iris and blanket flower. All of her new plantings are Northwest natives.
Nancy's well-prepared garden bed
Waiting for the next step