Fall planting
Early fall is an excellent time to plant native seedlings into the garden. The scorching temperatures of August have passed and there is still a stretch of nice weather that plants can use to develop their root system and gradually get ready for winter.
In the spring we planted all 5000 of our indoor sown seedlings into the ground. Our 4000 winter sown seedlings weren’t quite large enough for planting so we placed them in the shade where they have been patiently waiting for cooler temperatures. Our first priority in early September is to get them all into the ground. If your winter sown seedlings are still in pots now is the time to plant them.
Many native plant nurseries have fall sales happening right now. This is a great opportunity to purchase plants and add them to your garden. Check out your local nursery and see what they have available!
If you have native seeds to sow I would wait until late fall or early winter (late November/early December), preferably around the first snowfall. In the meantime, you can store your seeds in a cool, dry, dark place.
While many native species require cold moist stratification to germinate, some do not. There is a chance that seeds sown now could germinate and be too small to survive an early fall frost.
Sand Barren Restoration
This fall we are beginning the restoration of a small area of sand barren located on our property. Sand barrens are a rare habitat in Ontario, home to many unusual species that grow in this harsh environment.
One of the first steps will be to place barriers so that vehicles will be unable to drive on it (the area is right next to our driveway). We will also be removing species that do not belong in sand barrens, such as Scots pine.
Stay tuned for more sand barren updates!
Trent Ecological Restoration Conference
October 24th & 25th
We are excited to be presenting a workshop at the Trent Ecological Restoration Conference in October. Our talk is titled: “Germination codes: methods for local ecotype sedges”. We will be sharing methods used to determine germination codes for our sedges. Often germination codes are not available for some of the more uncommon species that we grow, so we run trials under different growing conditions to see how they germinate. (Sneak peak: it is an upgraded version of the damp paper towel in a plastic baggie method.)
Whitby Farmer’s Market
Wednesday, September 10th
Next week we will be at the Whitby Farmer’s Market for our one and only market appearance this year. Come and say hi, we are happy to chat and and answer any questions you have about native plants! Of course we will be bringing our seeds and as a bonus, we will have a small selection of our native ferns.
Happy fall planting!
Andrea D’Silva
Swallowtail Native Plants