MARCH 2026 NEWSLETTER

Changing of the seasons

March is a month of great and swift changes. We will gain an hour and twenty minutes of daylight from the beginning to the end of the month, around 3 minutes each and every day, not to mention the daylight savings shift this weekend.  Temperatures are heading above zero, the several feet of snow covering everything will soon melt (and refreeze!). Our long gravel driveway will first turn into a sheet of ice followed by an obstacle course of potholes and mud. But by the end of the month there will be warm breezes and bird song, maple sap and the pale green light of early spring.

I have many things to share with you this month. Here is a little list of headings so you can scroll ahead to the parts that you might find most interesting.

• Winter sowing
• Growing seedlings indoors under lights
• The Garden Shift Podcast (I was on a podcast!)
• The bubbler experiment
• Seedy Saturdays

Winter Sowing 

Winter sowing season is officially over.  You might get away with winter sowing some species that need only a very short period of cold (you would need to sow them immediately). 

While you don’t need to do anything with your winter sown containers while they are buried in a snowbank, you will need to start keeping an eye on them as the snow melts.  You do not want the soil to dry out or let the containers overheat on warm days in late March. I keep my winter sown containers on the east side of the house where they get morning sun and are in the shade in the afternoon.  At the very end of the month you may see some of the early species, like Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) start to germinate.

Growing seedlings indoors under lights

If you cold moist stratified your seeds in the fridge you can take them out now and sow them.  You’ll need to keep them inside and grow them under lights until at least mid-April. Last spring I wrote a long piece on this topic, if you are interested in learning more I would encourage you to check out the March 2025 newsletter.

Seedling season is exciting.  I was talking to other growers and they are also feeling the anticipation and sense of impending chaos as all the little seedlings turn into plants.  No matter how much space you may have, it is never enough!

The Garden Shift Podcast

In February I had an opportunity to be on The Garden Shift, a podcast about shifting our gardening practices towards creating places that are part of the larger ecosystem. Tina Cesaroni is the host, she is a Toronto master gardener and has studied at the Royal Horticultural Society in England.  Tina and I had a fantastic conversation about growing our favorite native plants from seed.  We also talked about some species that do not need stratification, like Wild strawberry, Wild basil, Wild bergamot, and Wild (Red) Columbine.  You can start these species now under lights or wait until later in the spring.

I have been listening to all of the other episodes while I am sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings. You can find them at her website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Bubbler Experiment

Last month I mentioned that I had started an experiment germinating sedge seeds using an aquarium bubbler.  I wanted to give a quick update on the results.  Some of the sedge species germinated, and others did not.  The more I work with sedge germination, the more I discover how much variation there is in this fascinating group of plants.

Drooping woodland sedge	Carex arctata	yes
Bebb’s sedge	Carex bebbii	yes
Peck’s sedge	Carex peckii	yes
Bur-reed sedge	Carex sparganioides	yes
Golden sedge	Carex aurea	no
Muhlenbergh’s sedge	Carex muehlenberghii	no
Rosy sedge	Carex rosea	no

From this list the most interesting species was Bebb’s sedge.  It had not germinated with my usual methods of putting the seeds under light or with cold stratification in the fridge. Elaine from Whispers from the North native plant nursery has had success with winter sowing this species.  

In the bubbler Bebb’s sedge germinated almost immediately.  This made me wonder if it was the aeration by the bubbler that was causing it to germinate, or just being in water.  So I ran another experiment, where I placed the Bebb’s sedge seeds in water without the bubbler.  A few days later all of the seeds had germinated. Alas, I forgot to take a picture of them and I planted them out in a flat.

From an ecological perspective I think this means that the Bebb’s sedge, which tends to grow on the edges of wetlands, germinates during periods of flooding.  Or maybe the seeds land on open water and germinate, eventually floating to a suitable substrate on the edges of the water.  It does make it an easy species to grow at home, simply toss the seeds in a bowl of water for a few days and they will germinate. Apparently Bebb’s sedge is one of the few sedges that will grow to maturity and set seed in its first year. We’ll see how mine do this summer! Hopefully I will have Bebb’s sedge seeds available for sale next year.

Seedy Saturdays

We have four Seedy Saturdays and one Seedy Sunday lined up for March.  If we are in your area please stop by and see us, we are always happy to chat about native seeds with you!

Evergreen Brick Works, Saturday, March 7th

Peterborough, Sunday, March 8th

Sunday March 8, 2026    
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Peterborough Square Mall (downstairs level) 360 George St.
Peterborough, ON  

Brampton, Saturday, March 14th

Saturday March 14, 2026  
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Century Gardens Recreation Centre, 340 Vodden St E
Brampton, ON    

Pefferlaw, Saturday, March 21st

Saturday March 21, 2026  
9:00 am – 2:00 pm
38 Pete’s Lane
Pefferlaw, ON    

Minden, Saturday, March 28th

Saturday March 28, 2026
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Minden Community Center Upper Level, 55 Parkside Street
Minden Hills, ON      

That is all for this very long newsletter!  Longer, warmer days are on their way! Along with freezing rain, wind, and mud…

Andrea