Wednesday, November 25 is the next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society; it is our AGM and banquet at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre, and is for members and invited guests only. We’ll enjoy a delicious banquet, silent auction, and some interesting entertainment! Good company and good food: it will be a great evening!
Last time we shared a cup of tea, we talked about the invasive purple loosestrife. While I was doing some homework about that particular plant, I found an interesting site, www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca,
talking about other invasive plants and alternative plants that we can use in a fascinating article entitled “Grow Me Instead”. An “invasive plant” is one that is more aggressive than the plants around it, competing for space, sunlight and moisture. It is a plant that can destroy existing garden habitat with its growing habits. It is a plant that can grow quicker and stronger than other plants, to the point where other plants can be eliminated. This is especially important when a new plant can invade native plant species.
But for our own gardens, I’d like to tell you about some plants that were listed and good gardening alternatives. Let’s explore groundcovers. For groundcovers, they listed purple bellflower, a member of the campanula family. The article stated that seeds for this plant are still often found in wildflower mixes, but because it spreads bot by rhizomes and seeds, it is extremely difficult to get rid of, and it is very aggressive. The same goes for goutweed, and I’m sure all of us have had this enthusiastic plant in our gardens! (I want to mention, though, that even though it is aggressive, it is an ideal plant in the proper place. If you have an area that is difficult for plants, something with defined borders like a walkway or driveway containing the bed, goutweed is just fine because it will stay in its place.)
Another possible problem plant listed was the periwinkle, popular because it is a tough little plant that will grow in dry shade; but it often doesn’t stop there and can be a problem.
So what can we use for groundcovers instead? The article gave us several choices, such as the wild strawberry, fragaria virginiana. It likes sun, will grow in most soil types, and can tolerate dry conditions. Another contender is wild ginger, asarum canadense. This little guy likes shade, is drought tolerant once established, and bonus, it is deer resistant. One more is the bearberry, good for butterfly and bird gardens, with shiny, leathery leaves and is drought tolerant. Other plants listed include wintergreen, heart-leaved foam flower, and wild geranium. Black-eyed susans were listed as a versatile plant that can be used as a groundcover, in mass plantings or container plantings; lance-leaved coreopsis can be used as a groundcover, for cut flowers, and if you have a meadow garden or a garden of native plans, this beauty would fit right in.
If you are looking for alternative plants, (or possible new interesting plants) please do check out this site to get some ideas for next spring. You’ll find listings for groundcovers, grasses, trees and shrubs, vines, ornamentals, and aquatics. While we all like to take on a challenge and try to grow plants that we are told will not grow here, it is important to remember that picking the right plant for the right place makes things a whole lot easier! We save time by having our plants immediately adapt to their new home; we save work because the right plant in the right place will thrive and not require extra attention from us; and we save money because the right plant in the right place will likely grow and prosper, rather than fizzle out after a season or two and need to be replaced. As always, the best idea is do some homework over the winter, then talk to gardening experts at the greenhouses in the spring to see what they recommend.
Guess what we got in the mail the other day: our first seed catalogue, from T & T! How exciting to browse through and see what’s coming next spring! But now we can enjoy a well-deserved rest: have a great week! Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca
