My new garden is afflicted with weedy non-native plants in the legume family: white and yellow sweet clover, alfalfa, vetch, and black medic. Even red clover, which I used to think was, yes, non-native but mostly benign, is a problem weed here. A little way down the road is a big patch of crown vetch… Continue reading Native (& near native) legume family plants
Category: Featured Plants
Ferns & Sedges
Foliage texture is always going to be more important in a woodland garden than in a sunny border, where bright colour from flowers is so much easier to achieve. Ferns and sedges are lovely, natural components of the forest floor. Be sure to use lots of ferns and sedges in your shady garden for a… Continue reading Ferns & Sedges
May I introduce: Arkansas Calamint
This is another absolutely delightful native plant that is too little known by gardeners and completely ignored by garden centres. Arkansas calamint (Clinopodium arkansanum) is a low-growing thing with tiny leaves that will slowly make a small mat. It bears small violet-blue flowers in profusion in July. When it is not in bloom, you are… Continue reading May I introduce: Arkansas Calamint
Spring Flowers starting to bloom
The earliest spring blooms are opening in the south-facing Rock Garden and many flowers are starting to show buds in the hoop house. The earliest near-native in the Rock Garden is the lovely silvery-mauve Prairie Crocus. Most years it is much earlier than the related European Pasque Flower, but this year, with the strange fluctuations… Continue reading Spring Flowers starting to bloom
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… Continue reading Bringing Plants to Ottawa, Wednesday, July 13th
Notes on Plant ID
I had an email this morning from someone whose plant ID app was telling her that plants she had bought from me as Anise-hyssop were Stinging Nettle or possible Catnip. Now, I have never used a plant ID app but, for plants whose most easily distinguishing features are non-visual — familiar scents for Anise-hyssop and… Continue reading Notes on Plant ID
Some Ottawa Valley Wildflowers
We had something to pick up in Wilno and a delivery to make to Killaloe, so we made a little holiday of it, a break from the nursery, having a nice picnic at Golden Lake, and lovely walk in a bit of publicly accessible alvar at the Fourth Chute. Here are some photos of some… Continue reading Some Ottawa Valley Wildflowers
Native Thistles
As a kid I loved the big Bull Thistles that sometimes appeared in our garden. True, the first year basal rosettes could be painful to a child who, like me, went barefoot as much as she could, but i loved them. I loved their enormous, prickly stature and their gorgeous purple flowers. Thistles have been… Continue reading Native Thistles
First Flower of the Spring: Prairie Crocus
Last post, when I said I would have to move the Prairie Crocuses to a cool spot to keep them in bloom for the Friends of the Farm sale, I wasn’t joking, but I didn’t think I would have to start doing the move on April 2nd. Yesterday, the largest bud on the Prairie Crocuses… Continue reading First Flower of the Spring: Prairie Crocus
Seed Collecting Fall 2021
I have finished collecting all the seeds I intend to collect this fall and have picked over and done preliminary cleaning on most of them. I will be posting a list of the available species soon. Pink Turtlehead Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) — pictured above — seeds will be available this year. I almost gave… Continue reading Seed Collecting Fall 2021
Beaux Arbres Plantes Indigènes / Native Plants 