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PLANT OF THE MONTH: Wild Strawberry/Woodland Strawberry
Posted on by ridgetownrick
Almost everyone loves strawberries (unless you’re one of those unfortunate few who are allergic to them). Our store-bought strawberries are large, sometimes juicy, and taste pretty good. The modern cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa, is a hybrid of two wild species – Fragaria virginiana from North America and Fragaria chiloensis from Chile. This hybridization (first achieved in the 1750s in Brittany, France) led to the creation of the garden strawberry which became the dominant commercial variety.
Now, imagine a much smaller strawberry, not much larger than a pea, but packed with all the concentrated flavour of the store-bought fruit. That’s our Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiensis) and also it’s close relative, the Woodland Strawberry (F. vesca). This month I will compare these two delicious fruits, and you can decide which is best in your garden. (Keep in mind, birds and squirrels also love them, so you may not get many for your own table – just saying.) Evening Primrose
Native Plant Nursery: In Our Nature
Posted on by ridgetownrick
Owner/Proprietor: Shaun Booth
Address: 20725 Shaws Creek Rd, Alton, ON
Web Site: inournature.ca
Facebook Page: facebook.com/in.our.nature.gardens
Most folks reading this will realize that this month’s native plant nursery profile is for my friend and co-author’s business. I’ve known Shaun Booth for several years now – originally as the organizer of the fabulous Facebook group Ontario Native Plant Gardening (a group that now has almost 40,000 members), then as the owner of In Our Nature, but more recently as a collaborator on our unbelievably popular book on native plants.
Shaun started his nursery in 2018 for his own garden installation projects with a handful of word-of-mouth sales. He then officially opened a retail business in 2020. Though the nursery is not typically open to walk-in business, they are open by appointment. After customers make an order through the website (inournature.ca), he will reach out to establish a pick-up date. Having said that, they do offer open-house days throughout the growing season where customers can show up and browse plants in person. Watch his website for details.
ARTICLE: Of Curves and Optical Illusions
Posted on by ridgetownrick
A few weeks ago I posted on social media that I was going to slow down in the number of articles I posted to my website. This was due to some ongoing health problems and because my schedule has become increasingly busy with talks, book signings and trying to work on Volume 2 of the Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in a day to get it ALL done. I was blown away by the level of support I received over my decision – your kindness has been extremely gratifying – even though it’s made my decision to cut back a tad more difficult.
I asked what it was you’d like to see me continue with, since I could no longer do everything, and one of the suggestions a long-time friend made was that I should write an article about (to paraphrase her) “how I designed my gardens to make them look so nice”. This is an attempt to answer that.
BOOK REVIEW
Book Review 14: Raising Butterflies and Moths in the Garden
Posted on by ridgetownrick
By Brenda Dziedzic
- Publisher: Firefly Books, Second Edition, 2023
- Paperback: 400 pages
- ISBN-10: 0228104203
- Dimensions: 6” X 9”
- Price: $23.44 (Amazon.ca – currently a 22% discount); $22.46 (Amazon.com – currently a 25% discount)
Another great publication from Firefly Books. After publishing my own book with Firefly, I am much more keenly aware of what it takes to put a book like this together, and Brenda Dziedzic and Firefly Books have done a great job with Raising Butterflies and Moths in the Garden.
This book is pretty much 400 pages of beautiful photos of butterflies and moths, their caterpillars, eggs and the plants they feed on. And every butterfly/moth page has a clear North American range map for the species.
Other Random Stuff
Check out the December Jigsaw Puzzle!
