Program Contact: Loren Imes
360-639-6059 • loren.imes@wsu.edu
Native prairies are Washington State’s most rapidly disappearing and threatened ecosystem. Prairie land now comprises less than 3% of the original acreage, with loss of habitat one of the major factors.
Northwest prairies are adapted to a dry growing season and warm, wet winters. Plants in Northwest native prairies are a distinctive mix of low-growing, drought-tolerant grasses and herbaceous plants that flower abundantly in spring and go dormant in the summer.
This garden area demonstrates some of those plants, each of which is labeled with information on its growth habit.