Native plants in Seattle, Washington are abundant and thriving. Due to the cool, damp temperature that characterizes the Pacific Northwest, plants are able to absorb moisture and live peacefully. Seattle is known for the amount of rainfall it gets, and the fact that it doesn't see sunshine a lot. The plants that live there are accustomed to living in majority shade and soaking up the sun's rays when it does come out.

Seattle's Climate

It is a common misconception that it rains in Seattle more than in any other place in the continental United States. This misconception comes out of the fact that Seattle is mostly always overcast, looking as if it may rain at any moment. However, other larger cities in the country get more annual precipitation than does Seattle, such as Atlanta and New York City. Seattle's climate is mild, not too hot, not too cold, and it's usually cloudy.

Trees native to the Seattle area are the Big Leaf Maple, Bitter Cherry, Black Cottonwood, Black Hawthorn, Douglas Maple, Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, Hooker's Willow, Pacific Ash, Pacific Crabapple, Pacific Dogwood, Pacific Willow, Paper Birch, Red Alder, Shore Pine, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Western White Pine, Slide Alder, Vine Maple, Yew, Oregon Ash, Oregon Whiteoak, Garry Oak, Quaking Aspen and the Madrone tree.

Shrubs native to Seattle are the Bald Hip Rose, Beaked Hazelnut, Black Cap Raspberry, Black Gooseberry, Blue Elderberry, Bog Laurel, Bog Rosemary, Devil's Club, Evergreen Huckleberry, Hairy Manzanita, Indian Plum, Oregon Grape, Mock Orange, Nootka Rose, Oceanspray, Oregon Box, Pacific Ninebark, Pacific Rhododendron, Pacific Wax Myrtle, Red Elderberry, Red Huckleberry, Snowbrush, Stink Currant, Sweet Gale, Swamp Rose, White Spirea, Subalpine Spirea, Tall Oregon Grape, Thimbleberry and Twinberry.

Ground cover plants native to Seattle are the Beach Strawberry, Bleeding Heart, Blue-eyed grass, Backen Fern, Broad-leaved Stonecrop, Brunchberry, Common Camas, Great Camas, Cascade Penstemon, Chocolate Lily, Coastal Gunweed, Columbia Lewisia, Common Harebell, Cooley's Hedgenettle, Cow-parsnip, Deer Fern, Douglas Aster, Edible Thistle, False Lily-of-the-Valley, False Solomon's-Seal, Farewell-to-Spring, Fireweed, Foam Flower, Fringecup, Goat's Beard, Golden Eyed Grass, Goldenrod, Graceful Cinquefoil, Handerson's Checker Mallow, Inside-out Flower, Kinnikinnik, Bearberry, Kneeling Angelica, Lady Fern, Licorice Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Nettle, Nodding Onion, Oak Fern, Oregon Iris, Oxalis, Pacific Waterleaf, Palmate Coltsfoot, Pearly Everlasting, Rattlesnake Platain, Scouler's Corydalis, Silverweed, Stream Violet, Vanilla Leaf, and Twinflower.