- Washington Native Plant Society’s online native plant directory. Sponsored by the Native Plant Society of Washington, this website describes many aspects of Washington state native plants, including identifying features, plant propagation, landscape uses, ethnobotanical uses, and conservation and restoration uses. Other resources include photos, sources for buying native plants, a plant identification feature, where to find native plant display gardens, and resources for identifying invasive species.
- Xerces Society: Pollinator Conservation Resources: Pacific Northwest Region | Xerces Society
- Xerces Society’s resource guides to native plants & sourcing bee-safe plants.
- WSU Extension: Washington State University’s Pacific Northwest Plants database provides photos and details the cultural requirements and plant characteristics of 805 native and water-wise plants, including common cultivars. Plants featured are likely to be found in PNW nurseries and gardens. Search the database by common or Latin name.
- Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences – Department of Horticulture site contains images and information on over 1,800 landscape plants, mostly woody. Search plants by either Latin (e.g. Acer) or common names (e.g. Maple). This website features landscape plants of Oregon, many of which overlap with plants grown in Washington. It includes excellent plant photographs, winter hardiness, native range, and cultural and botanical information. If you’re unsure about the name of a particular plant, the website incorporates a useful plant identification component.
- Great Plant Picks: This resource from the Elizabeth C. Miller Garden includes lists of drought-tolerant plants, pollinator-supporting plants, and a plant database searchable by Latin plant name or common name.
- Sound Native Plants Species Selection Guide and descriptions of native trees & shrubs are useful summaries for many hedgerow plant species. This website lists characteristics of native shrubs and trees not found on many other websites, including transplanting success, growth rate and ultimate mature form along with more typical soil moisture and sun/shade requirements. You can also download valuable information sheets and plant lists for specific growing conditions, as well as utilize a plant quantity calculator.
- Burke Herbarium Image Collection website, hosted by the University of Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum, brings together 88,115 photographs and informational contributions from numerous photographers and botanists regarding vascular plants, macrofungi, and lichenized fungi of Washington state. Each listing also includes distribution maps, species descriptions, and links to additional resources.
- U.S. Forest Service Fire Effects Information System website is an online collection of reviews of the scientific literature about fire effects on plants and animals and about the impacts of fire on plant communities in the U.S. The most useful portion of the website for plant selection are the Species Reviews. These include information on plant, lichen, and wildlife species’ life history, ecology, and relationship to fire. They are available for more than 1,200 species occurring throughout the United States and each year more species are added to the database.
- University of Washington Plant Profiles: Using the search engine in this vast database of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, you can find listings of specific plants of interest, including PNW natives, including botanical, cultural and historical information. Interactive maps will direct you to locations in the UW Arboretum or Center for Urban Horticulture where you can find and view plant specimens.
- Plants for a Future, a nonprofit organization in the U.K., offers an online database that features over 8,000 edible and useful plants that grow in temperate climates, including the maritime Pacific NW. In addition to photographs, it includes characteristics such as hardiness zones, culture, propagation, hazards, physical descriptions, synonyms, habitats, and edible, medicinal and other uses.
- Native Plants PNW: An Encyclopedia of the Cultural & Natural History of NW Native Plants, an online resource developed by a local horticulturist. Though not an exhaustive list, each entry in the alphabetical index provides the sources for the plant’s name, photos, distribution, growth, habitat, diagnostic descriptions, how to use the plant in the landscape, and its cultural use by people and wildlife. Useful links and references to other databases and sources of information about native plants are included.
- California Native Plant Society (Calscape) online resources include detailed growing information and photographs of California native plants, maps of where these plants are found in the wild, and sources for purchasing plants. Information found here is particularly useful when looking for drought-tolerant plants, but watch for plants’ winter hardiness since many of the plants described are native to Zones 8 and above, and typically Western Washington landscapes require plants hardy to Zones 7 and below (with microclimates in some parts of our region OK with Zone 8 plants).
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