Bringing Plants to Ottawa, Wednesday, July 13th

Beaux Arbres will be bringing plant orders to Ottawa on the evening of Wednesday, July 13th to distribute them from our Britannia area condo’s Visitor Parking Lot. I know some folks were not able to make the Saturday morning Farmers’ Market and others did not want to pick up a large order with Westboro’s potentially congested parking situation. So we are reverting to the parking lot distribution point we used during the pandemic and bringing the plants in mid-week. We will be back at Westboro in September.

I have a new Plant Availability List to download (below). This year’s seedings are maturing so there are lots of species now available in the economical $6 size. Noteworthy are Butterfly Milkweed, at the $6 price, and Downy Wood-mint, which I cannot overwinter in pots and so it is only ever available in the summer. (I have potted up a few Poke, which is another plant that I only ever have available mid to late summer, as it almost never overwinters in pots.)

As I mentioned earlier, this spring I completely sold out of some of the choice woodland plants such as Bunchberry and Twinflower. They will not be available again until next year. However, shade-loving stalwarts, Blue-stemmed Goldenrod and White Snakeroot are back in the $6 size. I have American Spikenard again in gallon pots. (I love Spikenard — the Spikenards behind our barn have benefited from the wet spring and are going to top 7 feet!) I have three new and interesting plants for the Shade Garden: an eastern North American Monkshood, and two delicate Tick-trefoils. Another hard-woking ground cover native for shady spots is Large-leaved Aster. I have a few now with lots more to come soon.

Although one of the common names of the Monkshood is Southern Blue Monkshood, as opposed to the vanishingly rare Northern Blue Monkshood, it’s native range comes up to central New York State and the plants in my garden came easily through last winter’s rather brutal cold temperatures. It is just as toxic as the European monkshoods — so definitely NOT a plant for a daycare garden — but if you are looking for truly deer-resistant species, this one might be for you. The blue flowers in late summer are gorgeous (featured photo above). It gets about a meter tall in my garden and twines in among other plants in a vine-like manner. Moist soil and light or dappled shade are what it wants.

Email me with your selections by Monday, July 11th, 6 pm and I will get back to you with payment details, etc. Email: naturalgarden@xplornet.ca