Pollinator habitat
Native plant gardening & biodiversity
Growing with what belongs here
Notes on indigenous plant selection, pollinator habitat, and the ecology of Canadian garden beds — written for gardeners who pay attention to what's already in the ground.
Recent articles
Seasonal gardening
Goldenrod and Aster: The Case for Letting the Fall Garden Stand
Species profiles
Wild Bergamot, Milkweed, and What Monarch Butterflies Actually Need
Why native plants
Indigenous species don't need the same care as cultivars — they're already adapted
A native perennial bed established in Ottawa's clay soil will outperform a conventional border within two or three seasons. The plants have spent thousands of years calibrating themselves to local frost dates, rainfall patterns, and soil chemistry. That's not sentiment — it's a practical argument for lower maintenance and more resilient beds.
Read the full overview
Plant profiles
Species worth knowing
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta — A short-lived perennial native to most of Canada east of the Rockies. Tolerates poor, dry soils. Feeds native bees from late June through August.
New England Aster
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae — One of the last native flowers to bloom before frost. Monarch butterflies rely on its late-season nectar during the southward migration.
Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis — Prefers moist sites along stream edges and pond margins. The only native Ontario plant whose red flowers are specifically adapted for ruby-throated hummingbirds.
Biodiversity in practice
A garden that feeds something other than itself
Pollinator diversity in Canadian urban areas has declined steadily since the 1990s, largely because residential landscaping prioritizes visual tidiness over habitat function. Replacing even a modest patch of lawn with a native planting — goldenrod, aster, coneflower — creates forage and nesting material for dozens of native bee species that have no equivalent elsewhere in the urban landscape.
Goldenrod and aster guide
Monarch butterflies
Common milkweed is not a weed — it's a required host plant
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) cannot complete their life cycle without milkweed. Female monarchs lay eggs exclusively on milkweed leaves; the caterpillars eat nothing else. As milkweed coverage has declined across Ontario, Quebec, and the Prairie provinces, monarch populations have tracked that loss. Planting Asclepias syriaca or Asclepias tuberosa is one of the few direct interventions available to home gardeners.
Milkweed and monarchsQuestions about native planting in your region?
Reach out directly — responses typically within two business days.