Full Blog – The Native Plant Gardener

Can I have continuous bloom in my native plant garden? Part 2

Posted on May 29, 2022May 29, 2022 by ridgetownrick

In my previous article, I discussed continuous blooms for the shady garden as a response to someone’s query, so in this piece I will look at plants for the “average” garden – moist to dry soils, full sun to part shade. (Unless noted otherwise, all images are from my southwestern Ontario garden.)

Part 2 – The Less Shady Yard

When I started growing native plants in my garden, I was disappointed that for much of the early part of the growing season there wasn’t much colour in my garden. Once the spring ephemerals like trilliums and bloodroot were finished in the shade garden, nothing much happened till July. It seemed to me that Mother Nature only offered native colour in the summer and fall. So that’s when I started to dig deeper into the native plant literature. It didn’t take me long to start finding the missing pieces. In this article, I will offer up some native plant choices that will help you provide colour in your garden, and food for the local pollinators, from spring right through till the snow comes.

April/May/June – May is when some of my favourite native plants start to bloom. Geum triflorum (prairie smoke) starts to blossom in early May and continues well into June. It has an unusual pink blossom, but it’s the wispy pink seed heads that give this plant its name and is the real attraction in the garden. I have seen fields of prairie smoke in Manitoba, and it does look like smoke laying close to the ground. Planted in swaths as a foreground plant, it can provide quite a show. Another interesting foreground/rock garden plant is Antennaria neglecta (field pussytoes), with its white tufts of flowers that give it its common name. Note that Antennaria is a host plant for the American Lady butterfly.

We have a couple of very low-growing buttercups that bloom very early in the spring, too. Ranunculus rhomboideus (prairie buttercup) produces yellow flowers in late April – often one of the very first flowers to blossom in my garden – and R. fascicularis (early buttercup) starts to flower about 2-3 weeks later. Prairie buttercup keeps flowering for several weeks, too.

Zizia aurea (golden Alexander) blooms from early/mid May for about a month with wild-carrot like foliage and bright yellow flowers. This is a host pant for the black swallowtail butterfly. The first time I grew one of these, I found 7 black swallowtail caterpillars on the single plant. (I have since planted many more!). I find they do self seed quite a bit, but the heavy seeds do not seem to land far from the parent plant.

The hummingbirds love my Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine). In my southern Ontario garden, it usually starts blossoming in early to mid-May and provides that first splash of reds/oranges for the season. This tough little perennial loves to self seed, and I let it pop up anywhere it wants in my yard – from full sun to full shade, in bone dry soil to consistently moist soil. Around the same time, my Capnoides sempervirens (pale corydalis or rock harlequin) starts to flower. This delicate little flower is an annual (sometimes biennial) that blooms right through till late fall. It, too, is a prolific self seeder, and though it doesn’t tolerate as much shade as wild columbine, it doesn’t seem too fussy about moisture. Often found in shallow soils on alvars, this plant is another with a two-tone blossom – pink and yellow.

Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis) starts to bloom in late May/early June in my garden and is another long-lasting splash of yellow – staying in continuous bloom well into mid-summer. And if you have the right soil (sandy, well drained), Lupinus perennis (wild blue lupine) flowers around the same time, and is host for the endangered Karner blue butterfly.

Phlox also starts to bloom in May – Phlox divaricata (wild blue phlox) and P. subulata (moss phlox) are Ontario natives, P. stolonifera (creeping phlox) is native just south of the Great Lakes. These range from blue, to white, to hot pink. (P. subulata is very common in garden centers – look for the true species rather than cultivars – which are denoted with a name in quotation marks, such as ‘Candystripe’ or ‘Ice Mountain’.) Be warned, though, that phlox seems to be a favourite on the menu for your local rabbits.

Phlox divaricata – wild blue or woodland phlox

There are lots more late-spring/early-summer natives, like Geranium maculatum (wild geranium), Tradescantia ohioensis (Ohio spiderwort), Oenothera pilosella (prairie sundrops), and even Packera paupercula (balsam groundsel), but this list will give you a good start.

July/August – this is when all the showier native plants come into their own. I personally like the yellows of Coreopsis lanceolata superimposed with the oranges of Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed) – a combination I discovered by accident when my milkweed self seeded into another garden bed. Our lilies (Lilium canadense and L. michiganense) give great shows in mid to late summer, as do many of our sunflowers, coneflowers, mountain mints, Monardas (didyma, fistulosa and punctata), and all of our Asclepias (milkweeds). Our Allium cernuum (nodding wild onion) looks lovely in part shade. See the table (below) for a list of several more late summer bloomers.

Asclepias tuberosa – butterfly milkweed – with monarch butterfly

September to snowfall – fall is the time for goldenrods and asters. (And, no, goldenrods do not give you hayfever – it’s the wind-borne pollen of ragweed that blooms at the same time that is the culprit.) Some goldenrods are very aggressive, and should only be planted in appropriately large spaces – like Solidago canadensis (Canada goldenrod), S. juncea (early goldenrod) and Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod). But many are very well behaved, and even have interesting foliage and flowers. These include S. rigida (stiff goldenrod), S. speciosa (showy goldenrod) and the more unusual white goldenrods – S. ptarmicoides (upland white goldenrod) and S. bicolor (silverrod).

Solidago rigida – stiff goldenron (photo courtesy of Tina Gray)

As for asters – take your pick. There are so many, and they range from blues to pinks to whites, from short to tall, from full sun to part shade, from dry soils to wet. A few of my favourites are Symphiotrichum oolentangiense (sky blue aster) – a full sun, medium height plant that will be covered with gloriously blue blossoms; S. novae-angliae (New England aster) – a tall, pink to purple aster that handles being cut back in early summer by 1/3 to produce a shorter, thicker plant with a profusion of flowers; S. ericoides (white heath aster) – a smaller white aster with a lacy foliage and a profusion of tiny white blossoms in full sun; and the very tall (up to 6’ or more) Doellingeria umbellata (flat-topped white aster) which loves full sun and moister soil than many of the others.

Symphyotrichum oolentangiense – sky blue aster

Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke) flowers well into the fall – but be careful where you plant it as it will spread by its underground tubers. I planted mine in a plastic 45 gal barrel, cut in half and sunk into the ground. This way I get great tasting tubers in the fall and don’t have to worry about the plant taking over my yard. (This technique works well for other spreading plants, like common milkweed, the aggressive goldenrods, and others.) Helenium autumnale (sneezeweed) is another late bloomer, as is Coreopsis tripteris (tall tickseed) and Heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflower). And many of the earlier bloomers will still be blossoming well into the fall – plants like Monarda didyma (bee balm), Rudbeckia hirta (black eyed Susan), Rudbeckia laciniata (green headed coneflower), Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant), Silphium laciniatum (compass plant), and Vernonia missurica (Missouri ironweed).

Helianthus tuberosa – Jerusalem artichoke

Happy COLOURFUL gardening, all season long.

2_Colour in the less shady garden Download

It Doesn’t Have to Sting to be Good

Posted on September 6, 2025September 7, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Canada Wood Nettle (*Laportea canadensis*) seedhead. This is the host plant for butterflies and moths. The stinging hairs are very clear in this image – they’re often not as visible when you’re wearing shorts in the forest.

What do Admirals, Commas, Question Marks and Tortoiseshells all have in common? No, it’s not a love letter written by a shipwrecked seafarer on a desert island. These are all butterflies that are commonly found in the southern Great Lakes region and they, along with a few interesting moths, all use members of the nettle family (Urticaceae) as host plants.

Many of us are familiar with that not-so-lovely burning sensation when we inadvertently brush a bare leg or an arm against some Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica). This happens because the stems and leaves are covered with a lot of tiny, brittle, needle-like hairs called trichomes that easily break off when touched. At the base of these hairs is a potent mix of histamine, acetylcholine, serotonin and formic acid. And it is this chemical mixture that provides the stinging sensation that can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on your sensitivity level and the size of the dose you get.

Stinging Nettle is not native to our region – it is naturally found in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Fortunately, we have several members of Urticaceae that are native to the southern Great Lakes region that we can grow in our gardens as host plants, and some of these are even non-stinging if you really don’t want to get stung.

Nettles and Relatives in the Garden

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Let’s start with the non-native Stinging Nettle. You COULD choose to grow this though personally I find it pops up unwanted in my garden without any help. (Apparently it makes a great cooked green, tasting a lot like spinach and loaded with vitamins A and C – the sting is removed with cooking – but always read up on the potential side effects before eating any wild plants). If you really want this plant, consider growing it in containers to help prevent its spread as it grows vigorously from rhizomes and can quickly overtake a garden. Deadheading can reduce the likelihood of seeds, which can remain dormant in the soil for decades.

This plant typically grows from 3-7 feet tall and 1-3 feet wide. It thrives in full sun, but will also tolerate a fair bit of shade (in my garden, it happily grows in full shade under large walnut trees). It’s not fussy about soil type and likes anything from very moist to relatively dry soils.

Canada Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis)

There are many similarities between our native Canada Wood Nettle and Stinging Nettle – including the sting they both give when you brush against them. One of the easiest ways to tell the two apart is that Canada Wood Nettle has alternate leaves whereas the leaves of Stinging Nettle are opposite. Also, Canada Wood Nettle prefers moist, shady woodlands and doesn’t like hot, dry sunny sites.

Canada Wood Nettle grows 2-4 feet tall with a 1-3 foot spread. It will tolerate deep shade if sufficiently moist. Self-fertile, separate male and female flowers are inconspicuous and appear in the summer. Male flowers are shorter, less than 1/8″ across, with 5 white to green petals. Female flowers are loose and lacy with 4 green sepals that resemble curly leaves in longer clusters. These are clustered at the top of the plant. Like Stinging Nettle, this plant spreads readily by rhizomes.

False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica)

Also sometimes referred to as Smallspike False Nettle, Swamp Nettle or Bog Hemp, this is our stingless native. It has opposite leaves (like Stinging Nettle) and gets up to 5 feet tall in full to partly sunny, damp to average soils.

Because it doesn’t have stinging hairs, this is a great choice as a filler plant in moist, shady gardens as it remains green and leafy well into the fall.

Clearweed (Pilea pumila)

One of my personal favourites in the nettle family, Clearweed gets its name from its smooth, translucent stems, which to me are almost jewel-like. Also called Canada (or Canadian) Clearweed, Dwarf Clearweed, Coolweed and Green-fruited Clearweed, this short(ish) cousin of nettles ranges from 6 inches to 2 feet tall – in my southwestern Ontario garden in sandy loam soil it usually tops out at around 1 foot in height. It prefers part shade, but I’ve seen it growing in full sun to full shade as long as the soil is at least moderately moist. Like False Nettle, it also has no stinging hairs.

A Note on Urticaceae

All the plants listed here are wind pollinated, so you won’t see much pollinator activity around them. And all are purportedly edible, though with varying degrees of palatability. Some sources claim, for example, that neither Clearweed nor False Nettle are edible, while others suggest they are. If you decide to try some on your plate, do your research first. For me, I’ll just leave all mine for the caterpillars.

Spicebush and Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies

Posted on August 12, 2025August 12, 2025 by ridgetownrick

This month’s article is the second in a series of articles on host plants for butterflies and moths that I began last month. I started with two common butterflies in my garden, the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) and the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes). In today’s article I will look at two more swallowtail butterflies that I regularly see in my southwestern Ontario garden. As before, I will provide photos of the butterfly and its caterpillar (and egg, if I have a photo), as well as photos of some of its host plants along with some basic facts about growing these plants.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on Cup Plant (*Silphium perfoliatum)*

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Often (and easily) confused with last month’s Black Swallowtail, the Spicebush Swallowtail is a rare visitor in my garden, despite my having two large Spicebushes, a couple of Tulip Trees and a Sassafras tree, all of which are its host plants in the southern Great Lakes region.

Like the Giant Tiger swallowtail, the young caterpillar of the Spicebush Swallowtail looks a lot like a bird dropping, thus discouraging predation by birds. However, as it outgrows its skin and gets larger and larger, it takes on a bright green colour and develops two large eye-spots, supposedly mimicking a snake. In its final instar, it tends to be bright yellow or orange, sometimes even a reddish orange colour.

The adult Spicebush Swallowtail nectars on a wide range of flowering plants, including asters, milkweeds, Purple Coneflower, and thistles. It is a large butterfly, with a wingspan of 3¹/₂to 5¹/₂”.

Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

Lindera benzoin, sometimes called Wild Allspice, is a shrub in the Laurel family. It is typically found in moist, rich forests as an understory shrub, growing from 5-15 feet tall (in my gardens, the height seems directly correlated to average soil moisture). This lovely shrub has early spring yellow flowers around the same time as the non-native – and useless to our butterflies – Forsythia. You supposedly need a male and a female plant to get fruit, but both of my shrubs produce berries yet I have yet to find another Spicebush in my neighbourhood!

If you have part to full shade and moist to average soil, this shrub is a must for your garden. The leaves have a lovely spicy fragrance when crushed, and a tea can be made from the twigs and leaves. Both green (unripe) and red (ripe) berries offer distinct tastes: green berries are sharp, lemony, and peppery, while red berries are sweeter, reminiscent of allspice. The berries can be used fresh or dried, with drying intensifying the flavor and prolonging their shelf life.

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Liriodendron tulipifera is a magnificent tree – in the forest it grows tall and straight and can reach heights of 60-90 feet. Open-grown, it makes a wonderful shade tree. But probably its most notable feature is the large, yellow and green tulip-like flowers it produces each spring.

Tulip Trees prefer full or partial sun, mesic conditions, and fertile soil that is loamy or silty. It is a fast grower and can produce flowers in less than 10 years. (In my mesic, silt-loam soil in part shade, my tulip tree reached about 40 feet tall and 18” across (dbh) in less than 15 years!) But, as with most fast-growing trees, the branches are a bit brittle and susceptible to ice and windstorm damage.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

A medium-sized tree (50-65 feet tall), Sassafras albidum is probably best known for it historic use for flavouring root beer. However, its use for this commercially was banned when it was shown that large doses of the active ingredient (safrole) caused liver damage and was linked to some cancers.

The leaf shape can be quite variable, from a simple leaf to a “mitten” to a “trident”, and the leaf shape and their beautiful red and gold fall colours make this an interesting specimen in the garden. Like the Spicebush, this tree is typically dioecious, having male and female flowers on separate trees. This is a colony forming tree and, if allowed to grow unchecked, will send up root sprouts and soon form a grove.

Sassafras Flower (c) James Steakley CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

It will grow in just about any loose, moist soil but it needs full sunlight for good growth. It seems to be a favourite of the invasive Japanese beetles in my garden, which often do a lot of cosmetic damage to the leaves, though it hasn’t seemed to impact the health of the tree.

Invasive Japanese beetles find my Sassafras tree every year, but despite the lace-like leaves, the tree seems to be doing OK.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the most common swallowtail butterfly in my garden, but they are quite territorial so I usually only see one resident – any other Tiger Swallowtails that pass through are harassed until they move on. They will even chase off other species of butterfly, and I once saw one chase after a sparrow (a move I thought rather brave – or foolish – as the bird could have quickly turned the tables).

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail eggs on Tulip Tree leaf

An early instar Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar

These large (up to 5¹/₄” wingspan) bright yellow butterflies are hard to miss. Their preferred host plant is the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), but they will also use the Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata). If neither of these is available, they have also been known to use cherry trees (such as the Wild Black Cherry – Prunus serotina) and ash trees (Fraxinus spp.).

Nectaring on Blue Lobelia (*Lobelia siphilitica*)

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) – see above

Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata)

The Hop Tree goes by many common names – Wafer Ash, Stinking Ash, Swamp Devil’s Bit, Water Ash, Wing Seed and even Shrubby Trefoil. This is a small tree/ large shrub, getting 15-20 feet tall and spreading just as wide. It likes just about any kind of soil in full sun to full shade. It even makes a good potted shrub – just make sure your pot is large enough. The Hop Tree is monoecious, often producing male, female, and perfect (bisexual) flowers on the same shrub.

The first time my Hop Tree flowered (in June), I couldn’t figure out where the lovely fragrance was coming from. Once I did, I regularly altered my path so I could come near the blossoms for a whiff of perfume. But it must be one of those fragrances (like the taste of Cilantro for some) that you either love or hate – how else would it get the common name Stinking Ash?!?

If you’d like to know more about the differences in our Swallowtail butterflies, there are two great sites with lots of comparison images at https://www.butterfliesathome.com/swallowtail-butterflies.htm and https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=684652250358733&id=100064418930419&set=a.558096469680979.

August Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on August 3, 2025August 3, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Click Here to Play!

The Host with the Most – Hosting Moths and Butterflies in Your Garden

Posted on July 24, 2025August 11, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Giant Swallowtail nectaring on *Echinacea purpurea* (Purple Condeflower).

Who doesn’t love to see a majestic butterfly flit through the garden, alighting on newly opened flower buds for a sip of nectar, then watch as it explores what else you have to offer. If you’re really lucky, you may even get to see it lay an egg or two on the underside of a leaf. Although most folks do know by now the relationship between Monarch Butterflies and Milkweed, surprisingly I met someone a few weeks ago that saw monarchs nectaring on his Purple Coneflower and wondered why he never saw them laying eggs on it! He didn’t realize that they ONLY lay their eggs on members of the Milkweed family.

Male Mondarch nectaring on Liatris cylindracea (Cylindrical Blazing Star) flowers

Monarchs aren’t the only butterflies (or moths, for that matter) that have very particular tastes. Although some species of Lepidoptera are generalists – meaning their caterpillars will eat many different kinds of plants, what a lot of folks don’t realize is that most butterflies and moths do not lay their eggs on just any plant. They require very specific species of plants if they are to successfully multiply their numbers.

This month’s article will be the first in what I hope will be a series of articles about host plants – which plants host which butterflies and/or moths – and a brief description of what you need to grow those plants to make your yard a nursery for many beautiful butterflies and moths. I shall start with my own favourite butterflies, the swallowtails.

Swallowtail Butterflies

In the southern Great Lakes region, we are home to 9 species of Swallowtail Butterfly, according to Rick Cavasin (https://www.ontariobutterflies.ca/families/Papilionidae) one of which – the Midsummer Tiger Swallowtail – he indicates has only recently been described. In today’s article I will cover the two most common ones that I regularly see in my southwestern Ontario garden. I will provide photos of the butterfly and its caterpillar, as well as photos of some of its host plants along with some basic facts about growing these plants. Over the coming months I will look at a few more of the swallowtails, then perhaps go on to some of our other butterflies, if sufficient interest exists.

Giant Swallowtail (left) and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (right) “puddling”

Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

This black beauty is a challenge to photograph because it rarely sits still. Even while nectaring its wings are constantly aflutter. The caterpillar of this butterfly feeds on plants in the carrot family. Many vegetable gardeners are accustomed to seeing it on their dill and parsley plants, and even on their carrots or celery, and if you don’t mind sharing your produce, this is a great way to attract them.

The native host plants for Black Swallowtail Butterflies include Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum), Purplestem Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea), Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza claytonia) and Canadian Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis).

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

Zizia aurea is a full to part sun perennial that likes moist to dry, sand to clay soils. It is an early flowering plant in the garden, with blooms starting in early May and often blooming right through to the end of June. (On a personal note – the first year I grew just a single Golden Alexander plant, I had 7 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on it!)

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum)

Heracleum maximum is the tallest member of the carrot family in North America, often reaching heights of 6-8 feet. It is a relative of Wild Parsnip and Giant Hogweed, and like those plants its sap can cause sun rashes or blisters. It grows in full to part sun, in just about any moist but well drained soil.

Heracleum maximum Bartram. — Berce très grande. — Poglus, chez les Hurons de Lorette. — (Cow parsnip).

Purplestem or Great Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)

Angelica atropurpurea is another giant in the garden, often getting up to 7 feet tall or more. This short-lived perennial likes full to part sun and wet to moist clay or loamy soil, or sandy soil with lots of decaying organic matter. As with Cow Parsnip, if you choose to grow this plant be careful to avoid getting the sap on your skin.

Laval University, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza claytonii), Aniseroot (O. longistylis)

Osmorhiza claytonia and O. longistylis are plants for full to part shade. They tolerate most soil types and like average moisture soils. They get about 2 feet tall and bloom in May and June.

Canadian Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis)

Another shade plant, Cryptotaenia canadensis, starts flowering in June and can continue right through to September, and though its flowers are quite small and delicate they often put on a lovely show because of the sheer number of blossoms. This perennial can get up to 2 or even 3 feet tall in average moisture, rich, loamy soil.

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)

The Giant Swallowtail gets it common name for a good reason – with a wingspan up to 4½ inches (113 mm) – it is the largest butterfly in Canada. Its caterpillar, unlike the colourful caterpillar of the Black Swallowtail (which the uninitiated often confuse for a Monarch caterpillar), looks exactly like a bird dropping on a leaf. Its disguise is so convincing that these caterpillars don’t even bother to hide under the leaf. You will almost always find them sitting on the top of the leaf, as if the bird had just pooped and flown on.

The Giant Swallowtail’s host plants are mostly members of the citrus family – the leaves of orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit trees. Fortunately, we have two species that it uses here in the southern Great Lakes region – Hop Tree and Northern Prickly-ash (both of which member of the citrus family). The fact that Prickly Ash is related to oranges is obvious as anyone who has tasted the berries can tell you – it’s like biting into concentrated orange rind.

Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata)

The Hop Tree goes by many common names – Wafer Ash, Stinking Ash, Swamp Devil’s Bit, Water Ash, Wing Seed and even Shrubby Trefoil. This is a small tree/ large shrub, getting 15-20 feet tall and spreading just as wide. It likes just about any kind of soil in full sun to full shade. It even makes a good potted shrub – just make sure your pot is large enough. The Hop Tree is monoecious, often producing male, female, and perfect (bisexual) flowers on the same shrub.

The first time my Hop Tree flowered (in June), I couldn’t figure out where the lovely fragrance was coming from. Once I did, I regularly altered my path so I could come near the blossoms for a whiff of perfume. But it must be one of those fragrances (like the taste of Cilantro for some) that you either love or hate – how else would it get the common name Stinking Ash?!?

Northern Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum americanum)

Northern Prickly-ash is a very thorny shrub that can get 15-20 feet tall, though the only place I’ve seen it in the wild (the alvars of Prince Edward County, near Kingston, Ontario) the shrubs were typically around just 5-7 feet high. Not a great choice for a small yard as it can spread aggressively by root suckers, but these can be controlled by either pruning them as they appear, or by planting the shrub in a barrel sunk into the ground.

A. Barra, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Prickly-ash does best in full sun, in well drained, average soils. It produces small, inconspicuous green flowers in the spring, but these are beautifully aromatic and attract many bees. Even the leaves have a lemony smell when crushed. In late summer, the fruit ripens to a reddish orange. Another common name for this plant is Toothache Plant, because eating the berries will numb your mouth, but you will need both a male and a female plant to get berries. `

Next time: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Spicebush Swallowtail

July Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on July 14, 2025July 14, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Click the button below to go to the puzzle!

Jigsaw Puzzle

The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden

Posted on June 30, 2025July 1, 2025 by ridgetownrick

By Alan Branhagen

Publisher: Timber Press, July 2020

Paperback‏:‎ 256 pages

ISBN-10: 160469992

Dimensions: 8” X 9”

Price: $35.74 (Amazon.ca); $19.42 (Amazon.com – currently a 22% discount)

At first glance, Branhagen’s The Midwest Native Plant Primer looks like a great book for native plant gardeners. It has almost 45 pages in the introduction alone that covers topics like Why Cultivate Native Plants, and goes into some detail on what defines the Midwest, looking at the various habitats (grasslands, forests). And it is chock full of beautiful photos.

There’s a whole chapter on selecting native plants – how to choose your plant and what to avoid (i.e. right plant, wrong place), with a short section on gardening for birds and one on gardening for butterflies. He talks about the aesthetics of native plants in the garden (form, colour, fragrance, etc.), then devotes a chapter to Designing with Native Plants.

With lots of beautiful photographs and some great information in the lengthy introductory section, at one time I would likely have found this book delightful. But maybe my collection of books on native plant gardening is just getting too big. I found that the actual plant information is quite limited so it is unclear who its target market is or even what the overall purpose is. This book might make a great introductory book to native plants, but there are several overview books in print already and this one doesn’t really offer anything new. What’s worse, it misses out in a number of areas to be of any great value to a native plant gardener.

For starters, by the author’s own admission the “Midwest” is a very large region and he states that plants that do well in one area may not even survive in another, yet nowhere does the author let the reader know where any of the suggested plants will survive, let alone thrive. The need for accurate range maps is crucial for native plant gardeners who, more so than other gardeners, want to know what is native to their location.

The next issue is the alphabetization of the plants by common name. As with other books that use this strategy, the fact that there are often many common names for a plant, but typically only one currently accepted scientific name, means that locating a plant of interest in this book can be a challenge. For instance, I searched the index high and low for Wild Columbine, then for Wild Red Columbine, then Red Columbine and even just Columbine – all names that I am familiar with – but none of these were in the index. Fortunately I knew the scientific name was Aquilegia canadensis and could look that up, only to discover the plant was listed as Eastern Red Columbine. No wonder I couldn’t locate it. Another advantage of listing by scientific names is that similar plants (i.e. plants of the same genus) will be grouped together. For example, the milkweeds (Asclepias) will be grouped in one area, the goldenrods (Solidago), in another, etc.

This book does group the plants into the following separate sections: trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and perennials and vines, but within each grouping you need to know the sometimes very locally-known common name to find it.

I do appreciate the attempt at colour coding each of the sections of the book with a different coloured bar at the top of the pages. However, a greater differentiation of colours might have made separating the sections easier – they are all shades of purple and telling where the section on shrubs ends and the one on groundcovers begins, for example, is almost impossible.

I did have one problem with the section on ground covers, though. It is rather confusing when it includes things like Chasmanthium latifolium (called river oats in the book, but more commonly known as northern sea oats) which grows up to 3′ high, or Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) which often grows 4′ tall. Not what I would think of as ground covers.

Even more confusing, though, is the entry for Bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa) – known more commonly as Black Cohosh, Black Baneberry, Black Snakeroot, or even as Squawroot in some regions. For starters, Bugbane is normally reserved for the species Actaea simplex (formerly Cimicifuga simplex), a native of Russia and China. In addition, most sources now accept the genus name Actaea rather than the older Cimicifuga for this plant. And there are lots more similar examples in the book.

And although there are lots of beautiful photos in the book, they are only somewhat useful to help you identify the plants, as they typically show a photo of the overall plant without much detail. As a result, they don’t help you a lot in identifying whether the plant you have is what is shown in the book. And in some cases, as with Eurybia macrophylla, or large leaf aster, they don’t even show a picture of the flowers, just of the leaves.

Limited details on each plant, and pictures that only show one small aspect of each plant reduce the usefulness of this book, in my opinion. Also, the colour bars at the top of these pages are so close to the same colour, yet represent different sections in the book.

Finally, the most confusing part of the book has to be the fact that the author mentions both USDA plant hardiness zones and AHS (American Horticultural Society) heat zones in the introduction AND in a table at the back of the book. However, since he does not provide the relevant ranges for any of the plants in the plant descriptions, I’m not sure why this information is even in the book. This seems to be a major oversight.

These tables would have been of value if the plant descriptions had contained the corresponding zones

Some of these oversights and problems may not be soley the author’s fault. I have talked to other authors who have published with Timber Press who told me the publisher left out what the author believed were important parts, simply to save money.

All in all, this is a pleasant book to look through, especially if you are new to native plant gardening and just want an introduction to the topic. And since you can never have TOO MANY books on the topic, this might make a good addition to your collection. Especially if you live in an area that might be considered part of the Midwest. But for me the book was rather disappointing.

Hairy Beardtongue

Posted on June 14, 2025June 14, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Scientific Name: Penstemon hirsutus

June is typically a quieter time in my gardens, with the rush of spring ephemerals long done and the riot of summer colours not quite upon us yet. Perhaps that is why I find Hairy Beardtongue so appealing. It starts its long blooming period, with its soft, powdery purple and white flowers, when most of my garden is still rather green.

As usual, the Plant Description and In the Garden sections are courtesy of Shawn Booth from In Our Nature. The content of this article is excerpted from our book The Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region (Firefly Books), available wherever you buy your books.

Family: Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)

Alternate Common Names: Hairy Penstemon, Dwarf Hairy Penstemon, Eastern Penstemon, Northeastern Beardtongue, Pride of the Mountain

Plant description: Hairy Beardtongue features green to reddish brown, hairy stems. Along the stems are opposite, lance-shaped leaves with pointed tips and toothed edges. Leaves clasp the stem. Stems terminate with clusters of slender, tubular flowers. Flower stalks also emerge from upper leaf axils. Each flower is purple to violet with white tips and has 5 petals with a protruding lower lip. You will notice that the flowers are hairy inside. Flowers turn into brown, teardrop-shaped seed pods. They split open when ripe to release many small irregularly angled seeds.

In the Garden: Hairy Beardtongue transitions the garden into early summer with a fantastic display of tubular, pink flowers. It maintains a well-behaved, clumping habit and adapts to a wide range of growing conditions. The seed heads provide reliable winter interest. Plants may suffer from a reduced lifespan if grown in rich soil.

Skill level: beginner

Lifespan: perennial

Exposure: full sun to full shade

Soil Type: thin, well drained soils

Moisture: medium wet to dry

Height: 45 cm

Spread: 25-30 cm

Bloom Period: May, Jun

Colour: pink, purple

Fragrant (Y/N): N

Showy Fruit (Y/N): N

Cut Flower (Y/N): Y

Pests: no serious pests

Natural Habitat: fields and open areas

Wildlife value: attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and native bees

Butterfly Larva Host Plant For: Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton)

Baltimore Checkerspot – Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Moth Larva Host Plant For: Chalcedony Midget (Elaphria chalcedonia), Verbena Bud Moth (Endothenia hebesana), Sparganothis Leafroller Moth (Sparganothis sulfureana)

USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-9

Propagation: Direct sow in late fall through to late winter, pressing seeds into the surface of the soil without covering as seeds need light to germinate. For starting indoors, germination is enhanced with 60 days of cold, moist stratification. Slow to germinate and will spend its first year getting established, then flower in year two. Plants seem to germinate best in cool soil. Penstemon readily self seeds. Mature clumps of plants can be divided in early spring or late fall. Plants may also be propagated by layering (pinning the stem down and covering the leaf nodes with soil, which will then root) or by stem cuttings using sections of stem with 2-4 nodes.

The very small seeds of Hairy Beardtongue require light to germinate.

Additional Info: This low maintenance plant blooms in my southwestern Ontario garden in the early summer, after the spring ephemerals are done and before the bulk of the colour of my other natives begins, providing a wonderful splash of colour during the “quiet” period before the blooms of summer reach their peak. As a result, it has become one of my favourites.

Native Range:

Shaded area indicates where the plant is considered to be native.

Native Plant Nursery: Rosemont Meadows Native Plants

Posted on June 2, 2025June 2, 2025 by ridgetownrick

Owner/Proprietor: Emma Murphy

Address: 21 Katherine St., Lakefield, Ontario

Web Site: Not yet! Hopefully sometime this year!

Email: rosemontmeadowsnativeplants@gmail.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/rosemontmeadows.nativeplants

Other Social Media: IG – https://www.instagram.com/rosemont_meadows_native/

When I started to grow native plants, almost 20 years ago now, there were a small handful of native plant nurseries in Ontario. As the demand has grown, so has the number of sources of native plants, as it seems more and more gardeners are realizing the benefits of “growing native”. And since I am constantly scouring the web for native plant nurseries, I am often rewarded with finding new (or almost new) businesses catering to the native plant gardening public. This month’s native plant nursery profile is one such new discovery for me.

Emma Murphy officially opened Rosemont Meadows Native Plants in the spring of 2023. This business operates under a little different model than most. She has neither a formal retail outlet that is open to the public, nor does she sell online for pickup or delivery. Instead, Emma operates out of her home for spring weekends and then by appointment for the rest of the year. The nursery is located in her back yard.

Rosemont Meadows is open May to mid-June on weekends from 9 am to 3 pm, or by appointment. The hours of operation are posted on their Facebook page (see link above). After mid-June it is by appointment only so email or call before heading out. If you’re curious about what they have in stock, the current plant availability is listed on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=rosemontmeadows.nativeplants&set=a.594150930357177).

Currently, Rosemont Meadows carries about 60 species of native plants – and this number keeps growing each year as she keeps doing more winter sowing, incorporating new plants in her garden and collecting her own seed.

Almost all her plants are true native species, though she does carry a very few nativars (variegated shorter Solomon’s Seal, for example) for those with smaller urban gardens. But she makes it very clear that such plants are not straight species.

Right now, she has a variety of annuals, biennials and perennials, as well as some ferns, sedges and grasses. The only vine she currently has is Virgin’s Bower Clematis (Clematis virginiana) but my guess is that will soon be added to.

Her plants come from seeds collected on her own property and from reputable Ontario/Canadian seed suppliers. She also buys plants from local wholesalers such as Ecology Park Native Plant Nursery, Grow Wild, and Natural Themes, or digs plants from her own gardens.

Emma brings to her gardening a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (University of Waterloo) and is a Certified Master Gardener (member of Peterborough and Area Master Gardener group). She is a self-taught gardener, starting with her first house in east Toronto almost 30 years ago and became a Master Gardener (taking courses at U of Guelph) in 2014. Part of that MG commitment includes continuous learning, and that’s where she became interested in native plants and started taking some courses.

Emma tells me that when she started incorporating native plants into her own garden, she did so with a personal goal of a 50/50 native/non-native garden and a focus on providing an ecological niche in their backyard to support pollinators, birds, insects, mammals etc. She then started writing MG blogs focusing on native plants and their benefits and has been an admin/moderator on the Master Gardeners of Ontario Facebook page for many years. Those who belong to the FB group know that Master Gardeners have an increasingly strong focus on incorporating and promoting native plants in gardens across Ontario.

It wasn’t long before Emma started creating more onsite habitat – log and brush piles, a large pond, and incorporating a wide variety of host species. She began winter sowing in 2021 for native plants because, as she says, at the time there weren’t many large nursery sources in her neck of the woods.

She soon recognized there was a market for native plants and decided to start a small nursery and is now in her 3^rd year with more plants and lots of varieties. She just doesn’t have a huge inventory – yet. She is limited, in part, by size of her property (3/4 acre) so won’t be able to get real big. However, her main goal is just to get a few more native plants out into her community!!

Emma is also an avid photographer and writer and has produced a number blogs as a Master Gardener. She recently retired and has been focusing on her small native plant nursery and getting native plants out into people’s gardens in both urban and cottage/rural locations.

If you’re up in the Lakefield area, be sure to reach out to her and see what she’s got growing.

Wild Strawberry/Woodland Strawberry

Posted on May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 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.

Garden strawberries (large) vs wild strawberries (small) – https://leslieland.com/2008/07/wild-about-wild-strawberries/

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.)

Common Name:	Wild Strawberry	Woodland Strawberry
Scientific Name:	Fragaria virginiana	Fragaria vesca
Family:	Rosaceae (Rose family)
Alternate Common Names:	Blue-leaf Strawberry, Common Wild Strawberry, Scarlet Strawberry, Virginia Strawberry	California Strawberry, Starvling Strawberry, Wild Strawberry, Wood Strawberry
In the Garden:	Wild Strawberry is a dependable ground cover for sunny sites. The bright white flowers are found in abundance and the semi-evergreen leaves provide excellent fall color. Suitable as a no-mow lawn alternative and for erosion control.	Woodland Strawberry is a reliable ground cover for shady areas and will spread indefinitely by runners. Its charming white flowers and vibrant red berries brighten up shady corners of the garden. Great for erosion control or as a no-mow lawn alternative.
Appearance Comparison:	The two species can be distinguished by carefully observing the leaf and the fruit. On F. vesca the terminal tooth on the leaf is more or less equal in size to the side teeth but are almost always smaller on F. virginiana. As well on F. vesca the leaflets are sparsely hairy, more prominently veined with large teeth, whereas F. virginiana is more softly veined and toothed and hairier overall. Woodland Strawberry fruit tends to be oblong with the seeds raised on the surface, while Wild Strawberry fruit is more round, with seeds in shallow pits. Finally, F. vesca usually has fewer flowers than F. virginiana and these are usually positioned above the leaves, while F. virginiana flower stems are typically shorter than the leaf stems. Both species are vigorous growers, so be sure to give them room to spread.

Comparison – images courtesy of Friends of the Wildflower Garden

Note of interest – Woodland Strawberry also comes in a natural white fruited variation. I have not tasted these to see if they are as good as the red ones (the birds and squirrels get them before they are even ripe in my garden), but they make an interesting plant in the shady woodland garden.

The white version of Woodland Strawberry (*Fragaria vesca*) – suggested by some to be a strategy to prevent birds from eating them.

	Wild Strawberry	Woodland Strawberry
Skill Level:	Beginner
Lifespan:	Perennial
Exposure:	Full sun to part shade	Full shade to part shade
Soil Type:	Sand, Loam, Clay
Moisture:	Moist to Mesic	Wet to Moist
Height:	5-15 cm	10-20 cm
Spread:	60+ cm (with runners)	100 cm (with runners)
Bloom Period:	Apr, May	May, Jun
Flower Colour:	White
Showy Fruit:	Yes – edible red “berry” (actually a fruit)
Cut Flower:	No
Pests:	Seldom bothered by the pests and diseases that affect commercial strawberries
Natural Habitat:	Fields, prairies, and woodland edges	Rich, shady woodlands
Wildlife Value:	Many bees rely on the nectar and pollen, and many birds and small mammals and some turtles feed on the strawberries
USDA Hardiness Zones:	3-9	3-10

*Fragaria virginiana* (Wild Strawberry) blossom

	Wild Strawberry	Woodland Strawberry
Butterfly Larvae Host Plant for:	Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus centaureae), Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus)
Moth Larvae Host Plant for:	Garden Webworm (Achyra rantalis), Smeared Dagger Moth (Acronicta oblinita), Strawberry Leafroller Moth (Ancylis comptana fragariae), Red-headed Ancylis (Ancylis muricana), Omnivorous Leafroller Moth (Archips purpurana), Celypha Moth (Celypha cespitana), Blackberry Looper Moth (Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria), Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata), Wild Strawberry Seed Borer (Grapholita angleseana), Spotted Straw (Heliothis turbatus), Green Cloverworm (Hypena scabra), Drab Brown Wave (Lobocleta ossularia), Olivaceous Olethreutes (Olethreutes olivaceana), Variegated Leafroller Moth (Platynota flavedana), Garden Tortrix (Ptycholoma peritana), Purple-lined Sallow (Pyrrhia exprimens), Clandestine Dart (Spaelotis clandestina), Sparganothis Leafroller Moth (Sparganothis sulfureana), Strawberry Crown Borer (Synanthedon bibionipennis), Tinagma obscurofasciella (no common name)

Gray Hairstreak (Anita Gould, CC-BY-SA-2.0)

	Wild Strawberry	Woodland Strawberry
Propagation:	Germination of wild strawberry seeds is very poor and may be enhanced with 60 days of cold, moist stratification. Vegetative propagation — by separating rooted plantlets in spring or early summer, or by taking cuttings of stolon internodes — is the most effective method of multiplying plants.

Native Range:

Native Plant Nursery: In Our Nature

Posted on May 2, 2025May 2, 2025 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.

When he started, In Our Nature carried about 70 species of true natives and some near natives. They currently have about 120 species. They do not sell nativars and they distinguish between the natives and near natives in the online store.

You can get a variety of native annuals, biennials, perennials, shrubs and trees as well as ferns, grasses and sedges. Shaun often has some very interesting and unusual species growing, too. I’ve picked up a couple of plants there that I have yet to see anywhere else.

Shaun starts most of his plants from seed that he either collects locally or buys from a reputable supplier. He also buys some of his plants from trusted wholesalers. The online store provides information on seed origin for locally collected seeds, too.

Although Shaun is mostly self-taught about growing native plants, he does have Ecosystem management & Environmental technician diplomas from Fleming College in Lindsay.

If you need more than just plants, In Our Nature provides natural garden design, installation and management services. They also provide custom garden design plans for clients who can do the installation themselves but need some help with the design/plant selection.

Shaun is a past volunteer at the Mono Pollinator Garden. In Our Nature has been a sponsor of the Pollination Guelph symposium.

Further Reading