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Lakeside Living

Landscape design

Do you know there are "kids" hiding off your shore?

Your shoreline is a nursery for young salmon.

While it is fine to have a lawn for most of the yard, maintaining at least a buffer of native plants between the lawn and the water's edge can provide young fish with much-needed shelter from predators.

A native plant buffer can also provide homeowners with an attractive landscape that offers variety and seasonal color; reduced maintenance; more privacy without sacrificing views; increased property values, improved water quality; and a yard that is safer for families, pets and the planet.

But won't vegetation along the shoreline block my view?

No, because there are many different types of shoreline plants to choose from. Some native plants such as Hardstem Bullrush (Scirpus acutus) are low growing and actually grow in the water, right at the edge of the shore. These are known as emergents. Even in the dead of winter they add interest to the shoreline. Farther upland, a variety of ground covers such as ferns, oxalis, coastal strawberry, kinnikinnick, or twinberry make nice alternatives to lawn.

Ornamental grasses are quite popular. Their form and texture add drama to any garden. You can plant some native Deschampsia along your shore and have a yard that is both stylish and eco-friendly. The attractive feathery golden stalks are attractive throughout the year.

Shrubs like red-twig dogwood (Cornus stolonifera or Cornus sericea) can be trained to arch out horizontally over the water instead of growing up vertically. And the attractive red branches add welcome color in the bleak winter months. While bigleaf maples are massive, there are smaller and more delicate maple varieties, such as vine maple (Acer palmatum) that would make a lovely shoreline addition without blocking the view. You can also choose trees that are lacey and lightly branched, such as Paper Bark Birch (Betula papyrifera). Other trees, such as many confier varieties, are interesting, attractive and enhance the view. While there are no one-size-fits-all planting plans, many options exist for lakeshore friendly landscaping. For more tips, please visit our Going Native page.

The key to successful lakeside landscape design is to work with your site in terms of slope, solar exposure, soils and the site lines from your house. Do your planning from your kitchen, dining room, bedroom, deck – the places from where you like to view the lake. Shoreline vegetation can offer interest and color to the landscape and can also serve to frame views. In many preference tests, those waterfronts that included trees and shrubs were usually the most popular. The Selected Native Wetland and Aquatic Plants fact sheet is organized by type and habitat. It also includes reference literature, web sites, and warns which plants to avoid.

The King Conservation District (KCD), sponsors of the grant that funded these workshops, has an excellent program that can help shoreline property owners. KCD maintains a Wetland Plant Cooperative. While its main purpose is to supply plants for public wetland restoration projects, the cooperative is a terrific resource for learning about wetland plants. KCD also offers a helpful list of local plant nurseries that supply native plants and seeds, and an updated list of annual plant sales:

• King County Nurseries
• King County Annual Plant Sales

Invasives and noxious weeds

But they looked so pretty and harmless.

Noxious weeds are plants that have mostly been intentionally planted for their ornamental value. No one had any idea that they would take over and pose so many problems years later. Noxious weeds are typically non-natives and so may not have the natural predators that would keep their populations in check, in the way that native species do. Soon they become invasive and displace native species – some that fish and wildlife depend on for their own survival. Learn to identify and control invasives that may grow along your shoreline.

When we let invasives and noxious weeds prevail, we then let nature get out of balance. This is the case with three of the most common shoreline weeds along lakes Washington and Sammamish: Garden Loosestrife, Purple Loosestrife, and Yellow Flag Iris. Visit the King County Noxious Weed Control Board site, 206-296-0290 or the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board for more information on control methods.

Garden Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris)

Class B Noxious Weed: Control and containment required by law
Introduced as garden ornamental. Flowers July - late August, also spreads by creeping rootstalks. Invades wetlands, shorelines and riparian zones. Currently spreading rapidly around Lake Sammamish and down the Sammamish slough.

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Class B Noxious Weed: Control and containment required by law
Introduced as a garden flower in the 1800s, it sports very pretty purple flower spikes that are long blooming and prolific. It's not-so-pretty side is its aggressive growth habit and millions of seeds. It once nearly filled all of Union Bay.

Aggressively invades all types of wetlands and displaces native flora, not used by wildlife. Commonly confused with Spiraea and fireweed because flowers are similar. Blooms July - September, spreads by seeds, runners and root cuttings. Often gets replaced by Garden Loosestrife once eradicated. Monitor area.

Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus)

Class C: Control and containment highly encouraged
Has a pretty yellow flower, nearly impossible to kill, grows easily at the water's edge. Everyone wants "just a little of this plant" along their shore. Soon it is choking out the lakeshore. Blooms in May - June; reproduces by seeds and by rhizome offsets forming tight clumps. Though tempting, please resist planting or encouraging this invasive.