Baltimore Woods Hugel Bed Fosters Native Life

The Baltimore Woods Hugelkulture bed is a small experiment in increasing the fertile area for growing native plants in the rocky and compacted soil of the Lower Meadow. It started as the germ of an idea by FOBW members, as we contemplated ways to increase plant diversity and encourage successful growth and seed production in our meadow. We were inspired by similar projects in Hugelkultur at Green Anchors, a former empty brown field site nearby.  Green Anchors is now a vibrant creative space, where many de-paved areas have been turned into thriving beds of native, decorative, medicinal and food garden plantings originally supported by Hugelkulture beds.

When we last wrote about the Hugel bed in the autumn of 2025, the area, which started out exceptionally dry and rocky, had received a final layer of tree branches & logs, composted woody debris from Portland Parks, plus several bales of straw. These many layers of woody debris, straw, and dirt will break down over time, providing extra fertility and water retention for plants in this challenging environment. Finally, after several months of allowing the newest layer of materials to settle and begin their composting process, it was time to plant! We had several dozen root-plugs of narrow-leafed milkweed, a pollinator and monarch-butterfly favorite, which FOBW members and volunteers planted in rows. We then added several packages of seeds for native annuals, which were sprinkled over the surface of the bed, as most native seeds require some light in order to germinate. Among the annual seeds we planted and which bloomed this spring were the lovely pink Rosy Plectritis, blue flowered Blue-Eyed Mary, Blue-Globe Gilia, with its pom-poms of pale blue, and Winecup Clarkia, just now blooming in early June. We hope this bed will grow and nurture these natives and fill in to become a blooming oasis in years to come!

In addition to these plants, we’ve also seen another new introduction to the bed. It appears that a nest of bumble bees has taken up residence in the center of the bed. The nest is occupied by our most common native bumble bee, the yellow-faced bumble (Bombus vosnesenskii). Bumble bees are colony nesters, and prefer to make their homes using holes in the ground or beneath rocks, such as abandoned rodent burrows. Fortunately, the Hugel bed had many openings and voids beneath its many layers, and we even had a temporary animal burrow in the bed for the first year after we placed its initial layers of woody debris and straw, in 2023.

So when spring arrived this year, a bumble bee queen, newly awakened from winter hibernation, found her perfect home when she discovered an opening in the woody debris leading to a protected underground chamber. She set up her nest and began to lay eggs, furnishing them with pollen and nectar clumps from early blooms for when the eggs hatched into new baby bee larvae. Now, months later, there is an active colony of worker bees bringing pollen and nectar to the nest, and raising more bees to assist with the work of caring for the queen bee and the rest of the colony. Since data shows that ground-nesting bees have trouble nesting in increasingly paved-over urban environments, this nest is a sign that our habitat restoration projects are proving useful to native species! While it is fun to watch the bees enter & leave their nest, we ask that people please refrain from stepping into any of the fenced beds, as we wish to minimize disturbance and soil compaction for the plants and bugs that live in these areas.

Each year brings new rewards and new challenges to the FOBW gang. We will continue our Thursday night stewardship work events throughout the summer and early fall months (if you’d like to join us, volunteers are welcome, and we meet every Thursday evening from 7pm-8pm, see our Upcoming Events calendar for meeting locations). The sights and sounds of the many animals, birds, and bugs using the meadow for shelter and forage is a key reminder of why we do this work. Our hope is to keep this area, and the extended Baltimore Woods natural area, as a viable habitat for the native plants & animals that historically have lived in the Willamette Valley. Not only will this help these species to survive in our increasingly urban environment, but it will remind folks of the natural world that sustains us all, and the beauty and richness of watching the seasons unfold in their eternal cycle of growth and renewal following the dormancy and quiet of the winter months.

Long live the Hugel bed, and all of its worthy occupants!