ROCK GARDEN COVER: Primula veris by Lori Chips, Norwalk, Connecticut All Material Copyright © 1999 North American Rock Garden Society Printed by AgPress, 1531 Yuma Street, Manhattan, Kansas 66502 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY VOLUME 57 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1999 FEATURES The Cardinal Divide, An Alberta Alpine Restoration, 3 by Donna Balzer Kananaskis Country, Alpines after Banff, by Todd Boland 7 Alberta Alpines through the Seasons, 15 by Rodney Shaver and Llyn Strelau An Alpine Garden in Calgary, by Sheila Paulson 27 The Best of Rocks: Tufa Gardening in Calgary, by Becky Simrose 31 Ericaceous Aristocrats, by Arthur P. Dome 35 Germination of Dry Trillium Seed, by John Gyer 47 Helicopter Hiking in the Bugaboo Mountains, by Becky Simrose 50 Into the Woods: Moving Bulbs to Belle Wood, by Judy Glattstein 53 Adventures with Adonis, by John and Janet Gyer 57 DEPARTMENTS A Glossary of Gravel 62 Plant Portrait 65 Books 66 2 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 56(4) THE CARDINAL DIVIDE AN ALBERTA ALPINE RESTORATION by Donna Balzer //r-n JL his is a charming area; unfor• Divide is not included in our National tunately, it has been badly damaged Parks, even though it is within the by trail bikes and four-wheel-drive alpine ecosystem. A true tundra expe• vehicles," wrote Patrick Seymour in rience free of the camping and use Rocky Mountain Alpines in 1986. restrictions mandated by Parks Seymour, now retired as Director of Canada is a dream come true for the Devonian Botanic Gardens at the many, and many people visit. The University of Alberta, was at once easy, unregulated, casual approach to amazed by the number of interesting use was both the appeal and—ulti• species on the Cardinal Divide and mately—the destruction of the dismayed by the damage being done Cardinal Divide, as an ever-widening, to the fragile tundra. At the peak of the braided path was travelled heavily by alpine season, he found the ground a off-road vehicles, and more and more carpet of blue Campanula lasiocarpa. alpine plants were killed. The area was Here grew as well Phyllodoce, Cassiope, being ruined by its own combination Dryas octopetala, a host of Salix species, of attractions—the enthralling beauty Campanula uniflora, eight species of of the mountains and the convenience Arnica, Petasites, Erigeron humilis and of easy accessibility. E. lanatus, Eriogonum androsaceum, The tide of plant destruction turned Anemone richardsonii and A. lithophila, on 3 September 1995, when plants left Pedicularis, Castilleja, Gentianella over from the Cheviot Coal mine test amarella, Parnassia, Zigadenus, numer• project near the Divide were donated ous Draba species, Silene acaulis, to the Alberta Native Plant Council Minuartia obtusiloba, Papaver kluanense, (ANPC). Planting and formalized trail Androsace chamaejasme, and Saxifraga development to restore the destroyed oppositifolia—just to mention a few. area became a reality. Hikers, bikers and outdoors enthu• "We barely got 300 plants in the siasts of all kinds are naturally drawn ground the first year," said Dr. David to any area where one can drive right Walker, who works professionally to the tundra. In a situation unique in with large-scale plant restoration pro• Canada's mountains, the Cardinal jects in the mountains and prairies. Dr. 3 Walker already had charge of the of the ANPC collect and label seed, reclamation test sites at the mine, and and it is cleaned and returned later to got involved in the Cardinal Divide Walker, who passes it along for propa• project naturally. He has continued as gation to commercial growers. Walker a volunteer consultant, planner, and specifies the containers—a shorter ver• donor of equipment to the Cardinal sion of the commonly used forestry Divide site. "Volunteers were hacking seedling system known as Spencer and digging (into the hard and com• Lemaire root trainers. With the shal• pacted alpine soil in the off trail areas) low, rocky, alpine soil in mind, Walker the first year," explained Walker. "We stays away from longer, more tradi• broke a lot of fingernails...." tional size tree-seedling root-trainers By the second year Walker arranged in favor of the "stubbies," which he to make the job easier by finding fund• has to special-order from Scotland! ing to hire student help for planting The young alpine plants are root- and by renting power equipment. "An stabilized in the containers and may be electrical generator and heavy-duty either one or two years old at delivery. power drills are used now instead of Money is donated by the Cheviot Coal hand tools and strong backs," contin• Mine for plant propagation and stu• ued Walker, who noted that student dent labor. The goal is to put the help sped up the planting process plants in the ground at the end of the incredibly. Six thousand plants have growing season. Because of the north• been grown and planted over the past ern latitude and high altitude (the site four years. is almost directly east of the town of Seymour first went to the Divide Jasper at 2,000 m elevation), it was no over 30 years ago—"I got a new car in surprise that August 21-23 was chosen '64, and the first thing I did was drive as the weekend for both seed collect• up there," he said. He continues to ing and planting in 1998. visit almost every year. Asked if the During the weekend temperatures new project held any hope for the dipped to 0°C overnight, with heavy future, he replied, "I think so—as long frost. The plants are not watered or as we can keep the traffic off." Signs maintained in any way once they are now prohibit off-road vehicles. "The in the ground, not even at the time of traffic," admits Seymour, "has ironi• planting, so it is necessary to make cally encouraged some species...." sure they are already going into dor• Clumps of Androsace chamaejasme are mancy and well hardened off when bigger and better than ever, seeming they are planted. to thrive in the damaged areas. The intent over the long term is to Members of the ANPC make sure decrease the width of the braided the appropriate plants are not placed trails. The first step each year is to set in a haphazard fashion but are rocks along the chosen path, to outline grouped by natural association, dupli• an ever-smaller area where walking cating natural relationships seen on and hiking will be encouraged. The the site. ANPC volunteers then set out the Because all seed for the planting plants in appropriate groupings out• comes from the area—which is more side the new, narrower trail, planting than 600 km northwest of Calgary, and encouraging revegetation in the Alberta—all the seed needed for the highly compacted, soil-eroded areas following year is collected during the adjacent to retained paths. Students summer planting weekend. Members from the local area then use the pow- 4 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 57(1) erful, generator-powered drills to of the area to be restored, it represents make a hole for each plant. They try to at least half the work, because planting make the hole just the right depth for techniques have now been so stream• the plant plug, because plants won't lined, and the areas closest to the road grow if the crown is not set properly at were most heavily damaged. grade level. Alison Dinwoodie, a retired profes• Walker has directed the planting sor from the University of Alberta, is crews to drill the holes at approxi• generally regarded as the primary mately a 45° angle instead of vertically motivating force behind the restora• down into the ground, so that frost tion work on the Cardinal Divide. She heaving of the new plants is mini• is also the reason the Cardinal Divide mized during the first season. He area has received as much attention as gives the crews diagrams of this ideal it has in the past few years. As the nat• planting technique at the beginning of ural area steward (a volunteer role she the first day of planting. He has found plays on behalf of the Alpine Club of in his experiments and many large- Canada), she was horrified by the scale restoration projects that alpines damage and made it her mission to planted in the traditional vertical posi• bring the area's plight to the attention tion will gather water around their of alpine enthusiasts everywhere. root balls and pop out of the ground "Write to Ty Lund [Alberta's Environ• as it freezes and thaws. Of course, ment Minister] and ask him to keep plants planted this late in the season off-highway vehicles off the alpines," have little time for root growth, and requests Dinwoodie. She frequently thus are not anchored in the soil lectures to interested groups about the through the first winter. The drill bit site and the reclamation work. size is matched to the diameter of the Dinwoodie's dream is slowly becom• root-trainer, so that there is no need ing a reality, thanks to donations of for extra soil to fill the holes created expertise and time by business, such when the plants are installed. as David Walker and Associates and Plants chosen for the site vary from the Cheviot Mine Project, many keen year to year, because seed of all the volunteers of the ANPC, local employ• species is not available every year. ees of the mine, and interested volun• "Two years ago the ground was a car• teers from the nearby town. pet of purple when the purple louse- If local people continue to partici• wort (Pedicularis lanata) flowered, even pate and to gain pride from working though it has been previously listed as with volunteers from across Alberta, a rare plant for the area and had hard• the project will be a success.