Local plant sale promotes habitat restoration one garden at a time
By Katherine Konicke-Dunlop
Vibrant hues of pink clustered flowers with a sweet fragrance cover the low-growing shrub and its green foliage, marking it as the Subalpine Spirea (Spirea densiflora). While delicate in appearance, the shrubs taste deters Bellingham’s grazing deer, according to the National Garden Bureau.
“It’s a shorter-growing, woody shrub,” said Emily Hirsch, fish and wildlife habitat improvement manager for Whatcom Conservation District. “It gets really beautiful, bright pink flowers on them.”
The Washington native plant is a new addition of the 40 species available for the 33rd annual Native Plant Sale & Celebration hosted by Whatcom Conservation District on March 21.
Read more at: https://www.thefrontonline.com/article/2026/02/whatcom-native-plant-sale