Ontario's Concise Native Plant Catalogue
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Draft Dec 12, 2020 ONTARIO’S CONCISE NATIVE PLANT CATALOGUE No Nonsense - Plain Language - Go Shopping Have you ever thought that Earth might be healthier without you on it? Take credit for healing your little bit of the planet by choosing to grow a native plant garden and practicing the Healthy Gardening Style. Choose the right plants for your garden, stick them in the ground, water them, then sit back, relax, and feed and shelter our birds, bees and butterflies. Make the Earth a better place. www.frontyardrestoration.com John Boydell Draft THE GARDENER’S WAY TO CHOOSE NATIVE PLANTS ONTARIO’S CONCISE NATIVE PLANT CATALOGUE Dedicated to the gardeners who’ve chosen to make the planet a better place beginning with their very own yard. No permission is required to quote from, print, or distribute any part of this work for non-profit so long as the source is acknowledged: © John Boydell, author; For the Love of Nature Frontyard Restoration, Dec 12, 2020. Photography by the author. This catalogue, Ontario’s Complete Native Plant Catalogue, A Guide to Native Plant Gardening, and other works are available for free at: www.frontyardrestoration.com Draft Ontario’s Concise Native Plant Catalogue Read these two pages first. Perhaps this looks too big and confusing to use, but actually it’s super easy. First, determine the type of garden you have because your garden is given its own section. Garden Type (plus Tall Trees) Page Lowland Garden - water saturated soil for at least part of the year LL-5 Prairie Garden - full sun, dry soil P-39 Meadow Garden - full sun, moist to average soil M-55 Open Woods Thicket Garden - more sun than shade OW-68 Forest Glade Garden - more shade than sun FG-96 Forest Floor Garden - mostly shade FF-115 Tall Trees - trees over 9 metres (30 ft) in height TT-130 The catalogue’s last page TT-136 For shortish trees that enjoy full sun to more sun than shade, look in the Open Woods Thicket section. For shortish trees that enjoy shade, look in the Forest Floor section. Second, find the number assigned to the region you live in. The second line of each species entry specifies by numbers the regions in which the plant is native. 1 - southwest Ontario from Windsor to Toronto and from Goderich to Niagara-on-the-Lake; includes Windsor, London, Brantford, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto. 2 - north of region 1 to region 3; includes Kincardine, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Barrie 3 - the Bruce Peninsula and around the south shore of Georgian Bay to and including Collingwood. 4 - regions York, Durham, and Northumberland. 5 - Prince Edward County and along the St. Lawrence River to the Québec border. 6 - from Lake Simcoe across to the Ottawa River; Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough, Ottawa. 7 - from Georgian Bay east to the Ottawa River; plus Manitoulin Island and along the coast of Georgian Bay to just past Sault Ste. Marie; Parry Sound,North Bay, Sudbury, Temagami. 8 - the far northeast; includes Cobalt, Timmins; Kapuskasing is on the western border. 9 - the far north central (north of Sault Ste. Marie); Hearst; Kapuskasing is on the east border. 10 - the far northwest; Rainy River, Lake of the Woods, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Lake Nipigon, Terrace Bay, Wawa. Third, look through your section looking for the species that are native to your region and that will flourish in your garden’s conditions. Photos of the plant can be found by using the Internet Link provided. Fourth, once you have found the ones you like, look them up in Ontario’s Complete Native Plant Catalogue where you’ll find much more information and many more photographs. That catalogue does not consist of one big book, but has been divided into 8 separate files, one for the Introduction, one for each garden type, and one for tall trees. They are available online for free at www.frontyardrestoration.com. If you are looking for a ground cover or for a species that will fill up a space quickly then it’s best to use the Complete Catalogue; search the section that pertains to your garden type using the terms ‘aggressive.’ (include the period), ‘colony forming’, and ‘ground cover’. For references, resources, and a list of native plant providers, refer to the Introduction section of the Complete Catalogue. www.frontyardrestoration.com 3 Hints: Take what you need from this catalogue and ignore the rest. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the plants prefer averagely acidic, loamy soil. Juglone Tolerant plants are prized for their ability to grow under Walnut trees which produce toxic juglone. For the photos on website www.minnesotawildflowers, click on any one to see them all enlarged. For www.gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org, place your cursor over the right-hand arrow which will take you to the last photo in lightning speed; then place the cursor on the left-hand arrow and they will slowly parade by and you can peruse them at your leisure; click on anyone to enlarge it. Within each section, the species are listed alphabetically by Common Name as determined by VASCAN, Canadensys, https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/search. Canada Thistle, Cirsium arvense, is not native; Canada Serviceberry, Amelanchier canadensis, is not native; Harebell (Blue Bells of Scotland) Campanula rotundifolia, is not native; Pale Purple Cloneflower, Echinacea pallida, is not native; Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum, is not native. Cotton Grass is Cottongrass; Cord Grass is Cordgrass; Indian Grass is Indiangrass; June Grass is Junegrass; Panic Grass is Panicgrass; Sweet Grass is Sweetgrass; Switch Grass is Switchgrass; Wild Rye is Wildrye. Gray Dogwood is Grey Dogwood; Gray Alder is Grey Alder; Weeping Willow, Salix babylonica, is not native. Before using the catalogues, it’s a good idea to read through A Guide to Native Plant Gardening. It explains why the species have been organized into garden types and why you should consider your garden as an ecological habitat. It also introduces the concept of the Healthy Gardening Style. Take away the photos and it’s maybe 60 pages of large type in a format that’s super easy to skim. It too is available for free online at www.frontyardrestoration.com. …I honestly believe that having once sampled an ecologically driven approach, gardeners won’t want to do anything else. Garden Revolution, L. Weaner and T. Christopher, Timber Press Inc., 2016 4 Draft Ontario’s Concise Native Plant Catalogue Lowland Garden Lowland Garden - water saturated soil for at least part of the year Flowers Swamp Agrimony Small-flowered Agrimony, Many-flowered Groovebur, Harvest-Lice 1; Rare aigremoine parviflore, aigremoine à petites fleurs Agrimonia parviflora -meadows, swales, thickets, open woods (deciduous to mixed), forest edges; bottomlands, floodplains, edges of wetlands/marshes/swamps/streams/lakes, seeps, wet thickets; disturbed habitats, roadside ditches, fields. >2.5-5’ Full Sun to Light Shade. Wet to soggy to average soil. Accepts gravelly to loamy to silty and calcareous. Deer resistant. https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/agrimonia/parviflora/ Golden Alexanders Golden Meadowparsnip, zizia doré Zizia aurea 1 2 3 4 5; south 10 -stream/lake shores, floodplains, swampy edges/forests/glades, fens, sedge meadows, often with Tamarack & Poison Sumac; meadows, thickets, limestone glades, forest edges, forest glades, alvars, thinly wooded bluffs; disturbed habitats, fields, fencerows, roadsides, woodland trailsides, power-line clearings. >2-3' Part to Full Sun; tolerates to Light Shade. Wet to moist to average, acidic to neutral, sandy soil. The more sun the more moisture it prefers. Accepts rocky to sandy clay and juglone. Deer resistant. https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/golden-alexanders Canada Anemone Canada Windflower, Meadow Windflower, anémone du Canada all Anemonastrum canadense, Anemone canadensis -open moist low ground, swales, meadows, thickets, open woods, forest edges; floodplains, sandy shores, edges of streams/lakes, swampy areas, marshes; disturbed habitats, fields, clearings, road/ railroad sides, ditches. >1-2’ Full to Part Sun. Rich, wet to moist, calcareous to neutral soil. Accepts average moisture, but becomes less aggressive; accepts gravelly to light clayey, plus your average garden soil. https://www.saskwildflower.ca/nat_Anemone-canadensis.html Purple-stemmed Angelica angélique pourpre Angelica atropurpurea 1 2 3 4 5 6, Manitoulin Island -floodplains, bottomlands, shores of streams/lakes, marshes, swamps, fens, seeps; meadows, fields, swales, ditches, open woods. >4-6’ Full to Part Sun. Rich, aquatic to wet to moist, usually calcareous soil. Moisture dependent. Accepts mildly acidic and sandy to clayey. https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/angelica Asters; genera Symphyotrichum, Doellingeria, and Eurybia https://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/flora/aster.html Calico Aster One-sided Aster, Farewell Summer, aster latériflore Symphyotrichum lateriflorum all; most of the population is south from Sault Ste. Marie -thickets, open woods (often Beech-Maple, Oak-Hickory; mixed woods; occasionally conifer), forest edges, glades, meadows, sloughs, ravines, alvars; floodplains, seeps, rocky/sandy stream/pond shores/ banks, swampy forests, fens; disturbed habitats, pastures, fields, fencerows, waste ground, road/railroad sides, clearings. >2-3’ Light Shade to Full Sun. Rich, moist to dry, acidic to alkaline soil. The more sun the more www.frontyardrestoration.com LL-5 Lowland Garden consistent moisture it needs. Accepts sandy/rocky to clayey and juglone. Deer resistant. One of the least aggressive of the Asters. Three varieties are also native: angustifolium Narrow-leaved Calico Aster, aster à feuilles étroites; hirsuticaule Rough-stemmed Calico Aster, aster latériflore à tiges hirsutes; lateriflorum Calico Aster, aster latériflore. http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=6 Heart-leaved Aster Common Blue Wood Aster, aster à feuilles cordées Symphyotrichum cordifolium all, except Manitoulin District -meadows, deciduous open woods, thickets, forest edges, forests, glades, thinly wooded slopes, bluffs, moist ledges, cliffs, alvars; floodplains, stream banks, moist edges of swamps; disturbed habitats, clearings, roadsides, along ditches, fencerows, trailsides.