Metro's Native Plant Center, located near Wanker's Corner in Tualatin, provides an important supply of rare locally adapted native seeds and plant stock to support Metro's natural area restoration projects. At the center, staff and volunteers gather, grow and distribute native species for planting at restoration sites throughout the region.
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Rare Sidalcea flourishes at Gotter Prairie
Planning and conservation › Garbage and recycling › Natural areas, parks and trails › Restoration › Recycle at work › Restoration highlights › Rare Sidalcea flourishes
Nelson’s checkermallow was thought to have disappeared from the area until botanists discovered it at one of Metro’s natural areas. Find out how Metro's Native Plant Center is helping it flourish.
To visit Gotter Prairie is to travel back in time to a landscape that once flourished throughout the Northern Willamette Valley. To discover a wildflower thought to have disappeared entirely from the area thriving in this unique prairie habitat is to witness nature reclaiming the former farmland and returning it to its native state.
The rare Nelson's checkermallow (Sidalcea nelsoniana), discovered by botanists almost two years ago at Gotter Prairie Natural Area, is currently listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act and is protected under a recovery plan.
Following the discovery, Metro's Native Plant Center volunteers and staff collected seeds produced from the botanists' find and from others discovered later at the site to grow more than 500 plants from seed. This spring, approximately 200 checkermallow were planted at Gotter Prairie's native plant habitat, now restored to the historical conditions in which the wildflower once thrived.
A June survey of the plants revealed that all but 10 were doing well and three were already blooming in their first growing season. Metro's science staff use monitoring plots to track how burning, haying and flooding affect the establishment, growth and seed production of these rare wildflowers. Metro plans to share its findings with other land managers who have similar plant species under their care.
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Native Plant Center
Metro's Native Plant Center provides an essential supply of rare native seeds and plant stock to support Metro's restoration projects.
Acquiring natural areas
Find out more about the 27 target areas where Metro is acquiring natural areas and trails to safeguard water quality, protect fish and wildlife habitat, and ensure access to nature for future generations.
Volunteer at Metro
