Native Plant Garden Plans 2021!

After a lot of thinking in circles, we finally have plan coming together! Thanks to the power of the internet, we recently connected with Sara, who is a member of the Alberta Native Plants Facebook group and recently started her own consulting business working with families looking to plant natural, native garden / yard areas.

Our objective was to come up with a plan that we can implement over a number of years for low-cost that will not only provide the function of space we are looking for, but also will introduce primarily native, Alberta plants that support local flora and fauna.

Sara not only helped us come up with a map of the sections we want for both our front and back yard space, but she is also very knowledgable about plants native to Alberta, and was able to help us plan specific planting for each area. We worked together to create "zones" of planning and planting.

Excited scribbles after first meeting with Sara:

Zone 1: Current barren space under a conifer tree

Due to acidity of falling needles, we have a very barren area under a large conifer in a prominent section of the back yard. Since we moved in, we have been wondering what might grow in this area (if anything). Thanks to Sara, we identified a number of options and made a plan to introduce two native Alberta plants, both of which thrive in shade as well as high-acidity soil:

1. Blue Bells

2. Red Columbine