Native plants in another Parkdale garden

List of native plants in the Parkdale Community Garden and/or in Another Calgary Garden

Under construction July 23, 2019

: Wolf willow

: Echinacea purpurea September 19, 2011

: Mertensia virginica 9 June 2011

: Ajuga reptans ‘Chocolate Chip’ Bugleweed 12 June ’11

: Echinacea 31 August ’14

: Wild Currant 15 August ’14

: Wild Currant 15 August ’14

: Blue cornflower 24 June ’14

: Centaura montana, September Surprise 24 June ’14

: Forget-Me-Not 8 June ’14

: Pasque flower 29 May ’14

: Trumpet Gentian June 12, 2011

: Saxifrage

: Campanula cochlearifolio

: Dodecatheon Shooting Star

: Bee Balm July 16, 2013

: Rudbeckia fulgida September 23, 2009

: Campanula cochlearifolio Fairy Thimble Bellflower

In Calgary, Wild About Flowers is one of the suppliers of Native Perennial Wildflowers and Grasses. They also promote the use of native plants in landscaping and gardening.

According to wildaboutflowers, “native wildflowers are perfect for gardening, xeriscaping, permaculture, acreage landscapes, naturalizing projects and commercial sites. The variety of wildflowers and grasses in this region provides us with a wide selection of hardy, drought tolerant perennials that are biologically acclimatized to our variable climate. These native plants are beautiful, diverse and add much of the colorful under-story to the fall landscape. Their ability to survive and prosper with little assistance and no chemical intervention make them an obvious solution to maintenance issues, water constraints and environmental concerns.” “Native perennials and grasses offer eco-friendly alternatives to traditionally labour intensive, chemically laden, water dependent gardening and landscaping practices. Native plants are naturally acclimatized to local precipitation patterns and temperature extremes, they do not require fertilizers to be vigorous and healthy and are able to survive without supplementary watering. When wildflowers and grasses are used in conjunction to create naturalized spaces they have a complementary root systems that work to slow down and choke out unwanted plant material creating chemical-free, sustainable weed control. Naturalization of low usage areas will almost eliminate the need to mow, significantly reducing labour and emissions.” “Experts say that the single greatest threat to biodiversity in Canada and around the world is the loss of wildlife habitat; naturalization also creates much needed habitat for wildlife and a beautiful view for us.”

Adult butterflies feed on nectar and are attracted to areas where there is a wide variety of nectar-rich flowering perennials, particularly native plants, that bloom at different times over the growing season. Butterflies cannot hover like bees to feed (this makes bees very efficient at pollinating) so they need a landing platform. Some species of butterfly, like the very common Boloria bellona Meadow Fritillary, forage on daisy-like flowers, like the hardy Aster novae-angliae New England aster, the Aster alpinus Alpine aster, Echinacea Coneflower. and Tanacetum coccineum painted daisies. and Tanacetum coccineum painted daisies. Annuals include the easy-to-grow Cosmos. Meadow Fritillary, like the Mourning Cloak are double brooded. (Bird 1995, Bercha 2003-) Butterflies gather on the tall Eupatorium maculatum Joe Pyeweed with its massive clusters of pink blossoms and Monarda fistulosa Bee Balm and on the Achillea millefolium Yarrow. To attract butterflies, the more brightly coloured yarrows such as the yellow or magenta yarrow might be preferable to the plain white yarrow. The columbine, with four species that are native to Alberta — Aquilegia brevistyla (Blue Columbine), A. flavescens (Yellow Columbine), A. formosa (Red or Sitka Columbine), and A. jonesii (also called Blue Columbine) and a fifth that that is native to eastern Canada but also grows well here, Aquilegia canadensis (Canadian Columbine) or Eastern Red Columbine, also attract butterflies (Fedkenheuer 2014). The Anicia Checkerspot I first learned about the promotion of water-wise plants from a City of Calgary talk at the Calgary Public Library.

image	Achillea millefolium Yarrow
image	Allium schoenoprasum Wild Chives at Wild about Flowers
Saskatoon Berry 31 May 2014	Amelanchier alnifolia Saskatoon Berry
Anenome multifida Cut-leaved Anenome	Anenome multifida Cut-leaved Anenome at Wild about Flowers
image	Anenome patens Prairie Anemone, Prairie Crocus
image	Antennaria parviflora Pussy toes, Pearly Everlasting at Wild about Flowers
image	Aquilegia canadensis Wild columbine wikipedia; “Apple Tree ‘N Roses” Native plants;
image	Aquilegia formosa Red Columbine at Wild about Flowers
image	Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Common Bearberry, Kinnikinnick at Wild about Flowers in Gift to the Street
image	Artemisia ludoviciana Prairie Sage at Wild about Flowers
Alpine Aster	Aster alpinus Alpine Aster at Wild about Flowers
image	Delphinium glaucum Tall Larkspur at Wild about Flowers
image	Dodecatheon radicatum Shooting Star at Wild about Flowers
image	Elaeagnus communtata Silver Berry, Wolf Willow
image	Eupatorium maculatum Joe Pyeweed, Spotted Joe-Pye Weed at Wild about Flowers
image	Fragaria glauca Wild Strawberry at Wild about Flowers
image	Gaillardia aristata Brown-eyed Susan, Blanket flower at Wild about Flowers
image	Geranium visscossissimum Sticky Purple Geranium at Wild about Flowers
image	Hierochloe odorata Sweet Grass
image	Koelaria macrantha June Grass at Wild about Flowers
image	Lonicera involucrata Bracted Honeysuckle Black Twin-berried honeysuckle at Wild about Flowers
image	*Mertensia paniculata* (wiki) Tall BluebellsOne of my earlier acquisitions that is still going strong. See Wild about Flowers
Bee Balm Monarda fistulosa	*Monarda fistulosa*Wild Bergamot, Bee Balm, Horsemint Wild about Flowers
Alpine Forget Me Not	Myosotis alpestris Alpine Forget-Me-Not
image	Ribes Wild Currant
image	Sedum stenopetalum Common stonecrop sedum
image	Solidago Golden Rod
image	Viola adunca Early Blue Violet at Wild about Flowers
image	Viola rugulosa Wild Canada Violet

Notes

Under construction July 23, 2019

David Misfeldt, who works for the City of Calgary as boulevard maintenance technician, is the originator and lead on the creation of a “pollinator-friendly corridor” that runs along Canyon Meadows Drive from Macleod Trail to Bow Bottom Trail. Misfeldt has partnered with about 300 student volunteers. In 2017, they began to create the “bee boulevard” with native grasses, shrubs and flowering plants, including the Asclepias spp Tuberosa Butterfly Plant upon which Monarch butterflies depend. Sarah Johnson from Simon Fraser University and Lincoln Best from the University of Calgary conduct field studies in the bee and butterfly-friendly corridor. See (CBC 2019)⠀Misfeldt also helped design a bee park, near Acadia Drive S.E. and Canyon Meadows Drive S.E.

References

Charles Durham Bird. 1995. Alberta Butterflies. Provincial Museum of Alberta, 1995. 0773216723. 349 pages.

Al and Pat Fedkenheuer. June 19, 2014. “Columbines can add burst of colour — and butterflies — to your garden”. Calgary Herald.

The Fedkenheuers are owners of the Calgary-based ALCLA Native Plant Restoration Inc., and “have been growing and out-planting Alberta native plants for more than 30 years” . The Fedkenheuers list four species of columbine that are native to Alberta — Aquilegia brevistyla (Blue Columbine), A. flavescens (Yellow Columbine), A. formosa (Red or Sitka Columbine), and A. jonesii (also called Blue Columbine) and a fifth that that is native to eastern Canada but also grows well here, Aquilegia canadensis (Canadian Columbine) or Eastern Red Columbine. fedkenhp@telus.net

Another Calgary garden