Wild About Flowers

It’s a full moon rising over the end of an amazing fall day in the Foothills of Southern Alberta. Sleep until 9:30, seed collect until twilight - that’s how I roll. my job! #seedcollecting #nativewildflowers #albertagrown #alberta #canada

Less than one more week to order plugs before we close down for the season. In S. AB we generally see winter arriving around the beginning of November so we think all planting/moving should be done by the end of September which gives the plants another four weeks of root establishment before the ground freezes. Plug packages are a great way to go if you want to get some native perennial wildflowers planted but don’t have time to figure out which ones will work best & how to... have blooms from spring to fall. Here is an example of some plug packages we pulled today, 3 different packages, 56 different wildflowers out of a possible 60 all labeled with plant sizes for easy planting upon arrival. Lots of amazing fall colour starting here. Plant now & enjoy bigger plants with more blooms next spring. Visit our website for more information about Plug Packages. #nativewildflowers #albertawildflowers #albertagrown #alberta #canada See more

I've been listening to this great podcast called the Tides of History & I learned something very interesting to me that I wanted to share about White Mountain Avens - Dryas octopetala which we grow when we are lucky enough to find ripe seed. This amazing little plant is where the name for the Younger Dryas period comes from. The Younger Dryas occurred loosely around 12-13,000 years ago & was a return to glacial conditions, temporarily reversing the gradual climatic warming after the last major ice age. It is named after the alpine-tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala, as its leaves are sometimes profuse in late glacial, mineral rich deposits of sediments. It gave me a thrill to know I have this ancient plant growing here; I love these kinds of connections.

There are so many Bees on this Aster, the place is buzzing. Asters are the last flowers to bloom in Alberta, an important late season pollen source and there are many different varieties to suit a wide range of growing conditions. We ship plants every Monday until the end of September, now is a great time to plant most perennials. #bees #nativewildflowers #albertagrowers #canada

September is here and right on time the White Geraniums are turning red. This is my #1 pick for fall colour, it always puts on a show. #wildflowers #fallcolor #albertagrown #canada

Every so often I start to get tons of order inquiries for 3 Flowered Avens - Geum triflorum based on this photo. This is either a cultivar or a hand twisted seed head, this is not what they actually look like in seed. Our version is still a very beautiful native wildflower and my personal favourite. I just thought I’d put my two cents out there to try and correct this mis-information.

Looking for Chinook hardy trees and shrubs? Visit these guys for locally seed sourced material - trialed by Mother Nature herself.

Sweet Grass smells amazing and it’s the heat of the day that brings out the sweet smell. Plant it in container and keep it close to your house or sitting area so you will enjoy the fragrance. Dried braids will keep the scent for years and the fall foliage colours are just a bonus. Our Sweet Grass plugs are now available for sale. We ship across Canada and you can order online.

The Meadow Blazing Star and Prairie Goldenrod are fabulous today.

If you are an early bird, as I am not, you might be up to catch me on the CBC Eye-Opener this Monday at 7:45 am. I will be speaking about naturalization as a form or landscaping and what that acutally looks like. You can probably also check it out on their podcasts if you like to sleep later - as I do.

The Pleated Gentian is in bloom and never fails to impress. We will have plugs by the end of August.

We now have Paintbrush plugs available for sale! Its Paintbrush season and wow are they spectacular this year! I had to stop taking pictures of them because I have so many but I still sneak a few in from time to time as the combinations and shades of color always draw me in. Paintbrushes are semi-parasitic plants and can't survive in containers for very long which is why you never see them in Garden Centers. They need to be planted into an establish garden, under a tree or ev...en with grasses so they can quickly make the connections with other root systems that they need to survive. In the Chinook Zone they must be planted in a sheltered spot, under trees with good snow cover or on the east side of a building as we never see them out in the open here. Now is a great time to plant Paintbrushes as they are in peak condition and will have lots of time to get some roots established before winter. Order yours today as they don't last long. See more

Mother Nature bringing drama to my Friday night; lots of rumbling.

Miggs & I had a brutal day on the job yesterday even while surrounded by such beauty. Job requirement - must be able to focus on finding that seed head in the fray whilst being attacked on every front by innumerable flying hungry beasts for periods of 8 hours or more. Never mind the Bears. Mother Nature has a schedule & if you want to ride the bus you better be there as she waits for no one. #seedcollecting #nativeplants #albertawildflowers

This is the place to go for locally seed sourced and grown native Trees and Shrubs. Like wildflowers, there are so many beautiful native woody plants well suited to our environment and important to our local pollinators. They are in Springbank, AB.

Some of the pretty native grasses from our wildflower meadow. Alpine Blue Grass, June Grass, Rocky Mountain Fescue and Tufted Hairgrass. It’s so hard to take good photos of Grasses

Would you pitch in a $1.14 to save our parks? I don’t think they’d go for it as it’s not about saving money, it’s about access to resources.

Had a great day out scouting with this guy, Ken Wright. Here he is showing me how to tell the difference between Douglas L and Alpine Fir R by the bark. Found some good picking sites and caught the end of the spring flush in one of my favourite places full of Yellowbells, Low Larkspur, Shooting Stars, Western Saxifrage, Forget-Me Nots, Early Blue Violets, Prairie Crocus and so much more. Our wild spaces are so beautiful and worth protecting. So much to see in our own backyard. #albertabackcountry #albertawildflowers #nativewildflowers

Shrubby Beardtongue - Penstemon fruticosa is gorgeous. Sometimes it comes back on the old wood, hence the name Shrubby Penstomen other times it will die right back and come from the bottom. Huge flowers and a low spreading habit make it a fabulous choice for rock gardens or at the front of a hot sunny bed. Our native Penstemons have important relationships with our native bees and are especially important to solitary bees. #nativewildflowers #albertawildflowers #nativebees

Twinning Honeysuckle Vine is a beautiful native vine that is most often a burnt apricot colour with a pink throat but sometimes the flowers are completely yellow or red like this beauty growing in a thicket not far from our place. This is a multi-feature native vine that will bring Hummingbirds into your space and follow it’s flowers with red berries in late August that can last into the winter if they aren’t gobbled up by the birds first. Like most Vines it prefers cool shaded, moister conditions at its base but will grow up into full sun.

Mitrewort or Bishops Cap May have a tiny flower but it’s a work of art. This shade and moisture loving wildflower makes a pretty ground cover and the fall foliage colour can be fluorescent pink.