A beautiful yard adds value to your home, but expensive plants often fail in Ontario's rough climate and heavy clay soil. The result? Wasted money, time and effort spent on the requisite high maintenance (watering, fertilizing, applying pesticides) of these delicate plants.
How can you avoid this dilemma? Gardening experts recommend filling your garden with Ontario native plants. Not only do native plants look beautiful, but they also return year after year as perennials, saving you from buying new plants every spring.
Ontario native plants have spent thousands of years adapting to our local environment. Because they evolved to sync with Ontario's natural rainfall cycles, these native plants require much less supplemental watering. Over time, using native plants can substantially lower your utility bill and reduce the time and effort you spend on watering.
You not only save money, time, and effort and avoid the disappointment of seeing your plants go to waste when you plant native, but you also contribute ecologically: you help maintain your region's natural plant diversity, support the insects, birds, and animals that rely on native plants, and reduce water, fertilizer, and pesticide use, because native plants usually adapt better to our climate and soil than horticultural plants.
You can choose from a wide variety of native plants. Some of the top choices for Ontario gardens include Black Eyed Susan (gold petals that attract butterflies and birds, flowering June to September), Canada Anemone (a drought-tolerant filler that grows in sun and shade), Bee Balm (shaggy, colourful blooms that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds), Butterfly Weed (vibrant orange petals that attract monarchs), and Purple Coneflower (daisy-like blooms that thrive in poor soil).
Other standouts are Blue False Indigo, Cardinal Flower (bright red blossoms up to four feet tall that hummingbirds love), Wild Lupine (deep blue flowers that scatter seeds songbirds enjoy), Michigan Lily (yellow-orange petals with purplish spots), and Wild Strawberry (a low-maintenance option with white blossoms and a delicious snack).
Where can you get these plants? Buy from Ontario nurseries that specialize in native plants, split plants, or collect seed from a friend's native garden.