Submitted by Candy Venning

Have you ever stopped to wonder what it is that might define a garden as ‘Canadian’?

Or, before we had borders and a name for this geographical area (Canada), what makes up and defines a garden as being ‘of this place’?

For some, images of red Adirondack chairs next to the dock come to mind or perhaps a neighbors’ proud display of red geraniums and white petunias in pots for Canada day but garden gurus are suggesting something else entirely, native plants.

A stunning photo I observed recently, of a woodland garden containing native ferns, orchids, several groundcovers as well as Trilliums and some mushroom covered logs, really got me thinking on this ‘Canadian Garden’ concept.

Early native peoples of Canada would have had food gardens / food forests, or variations thereof, sometimes referred to as ‘permaculture’ and all species would have been native to Canada.

As early as the 1600’s we have records of Acadian colonists bringing wheat, barley, oats, rye, hemp, peas, cabbage and more. Perhaps there were even earlier visitors bringing exotic crops of annuals or medicinal plants. Humans and birds have been moving seeds around for as long as we’ve existed but a bird will (rarely) move a seed as much as 300kms. (another reason we have the seeds of exotic species being spread into uninhabited areas – ideally we stop growing non-native, seed filled plants like privet, barberry and Burning Bush)

Did you know that native species of Goldenrods we consider ‘weedy’ were grown ornamentally in Europe? Canadian Goldenrod was one of the first decorative plants that was brought from North America to Europe. In Britain, it has been known since the 17th century and was spread across most of Europe in the 19th century. It used to be planted in botanical gardens, parks and gardens from where it has spread and become an invasive species, crowding out other native plants with dense Goldenrod stands. Even today, for clients with urban gardens I avoid Common Goldenrod and recommend other, less prolific, Goldenrods, as they do support so much biodiversity. Asters and native Sunflowers are also on par.

Really, with garden planning, using native plants doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll water less or have a ‘maintenance free’ yard any more than planting imported English Ivy as a groundcover (don’t do it) means you’ll have a maintenance free yard. At the very least, if you did end up with fence-to-fence Goldenrod for example, your yard would be abuzz with insects but wouldn’t be very interesting from December to July.

Think of the shop local movement and a wish to support neighbourhood economies, avoiding imported goods when possible as you plan or enjoy your yard this year. Whether you’re responding to the ecological destruction we see around us, want to re-create a naturalistic and ecologically viable garden to feed, house and see more birds and butterflies, think native plants. There is no going back to a perfect utopia where every non-native plant and animal is removed, that’s unobtainable, but doing a little something good for the co-evolved species in the neighbourhood, totally do-able and very Canadian.