Bees & Pollinators, Garden Design, Information, Insects

How to get the Ultimate GLOW UP with a Firefly night show!

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By Thom Luloff, Master Gardener

There are few things that feel more like an Ontario summer than fireflies. On a warm June evening, just as the last light disappears behind the trees, the lawn suddenly begins to sparkle. One flash appears beside the garden. Then another. Soon tiny lanterns are drifting over the grass, blinking between shrubs and hovering along the edge of the woods. For a few weeks each summer, our gardens host one of nature’s most extraordinary light shows.

Yet there is much more happening here than summer magic and believe it or not, next summer’s “glow party” starts right now, with the steps we take in the autumn. 

A Love Letter Written in Light

To get right to the point, fireflies are not actually flies at all. They are beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae, and Ontario has a surprisingly rich diversity, with 23 species of firefly all with remarkably different life histories (Luk et al., 2011). 

Fireflies produce light through bioluminescence, a biochemical reaction occurring in specialized light organs. But those lights we see are not random. Each species has their own unique pattern of flashes, pauses, timing, and flight behaviour. In many familiar flashing species, males fly through the darkness broadcasting their luminous courtship signals while females, often closer to the ground, evaluate them and respond.

Essentially, that peaceful-looking summer meadow is filled with beetles sending romantic text messages.

Here is where gardeners become particularly important.

The adult fireflies dancing above our lawns may live for only a relatively short period, but much of the firefly life cycle happens on or beneath the ground.

Fireflies undergo complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Depending on the species and climate, larvae can spend a year or more developing in moist soil, leaf litter, woodland edges and other protected habitats before eventually pupating and emerging as adults. 

This means that for most of their lives, the fireflies in your garden aren’t flying at all. They’re crawling in it. 

And those larvae are surprisingly formidable predators. Many feed on soft-bodied invertebrates, including slugs, snails, worms and other small organisms. Ontario’s fireflies are therefore not simply beautiful additions to the garden; during their larval stage, many are active participants in the soil and litter food web (Luk et al., 2011). Think about that the next time you see a slug munching its way through your hostas!

So Where Have All the Fireflies Gone?

Many people have a similar memory: There used to be many more fireflies.

Quantifying firefly declines is complicated because long-term population datasets are limited, and trends differ among species and regions. We should therefore be cautious about assuming that every firefly species is declining everywhere.  But there are genuine reasons for concern.

A global assessment by firefly experts identified habitat loss, artificial light at night and pesticide use among the most important threats to firefly populations (Lewis et al., 2020). North American conservation assessments have likewise found that some species are considerably more vulnerable than others, particularly those with specialized habitat requirements (Fallon et al., 2021).

And unfortunately, many things we traditionally consider tasks of a “well-maintained” garden are almost exactly the opposite of what a firefly needs:

  • We rake away the leaves.
  • We remove fallen branches.
  • We cut the grass short.
  • We clear vegetation from damp corners.
  • And then we illuminate the property all night, preventing the way they communicate

From a firefly’s perspective, we’ve removed the bedroom, emptied the refrigerator and left the stadium lights on!

Use this Autumn to GLOW UP for next summer!

To get the glow up, we need the adult beetles.  

To get the beetles, we need healthy larvae.  

So, leave some leaf litter beneath shrubs and trees, particularly in places where it will remain moist. Maintain some scattered patches of taller vegetation. Allow a corner beside a hedge, woodland edge or garden bed to remain slightly wild. Keep woody debris where appropriate and preserve moist, shaded areas rather than trying to make every square metre of the property look manicured.

And because larvae live and hunt near the soil surface, reducing unnecessary soil disturbance and avoiding broad-spectrum insecticides can help preserve both fireflies and the invertebrate communities on which they depend. Habitat loss and pesticide exposure are among the major concerns identified for fireflies globally (Lewis et al., 2020).

And Please—Turn off (or down) the lights. Let nighttime be dark. Light pollution is now recognized as an important conservation concern for fireflies precisely because reproduction depends so heavily on visual communication (Lewis et al., 2020).  To prepare, use this autumn  to switch essential security lighting to motion sensors or timers. Direct necessary lights downward rather than outward into gardens and natural areas. 

And next summer, when darkness finally settles over an Ontario summer evening, perhaps the garden will turn its own lights on.

References

Fallon, C. E., Hoyle, S. M., Lewis, S. M., Owens, A. C. S., Lee-Mäder, E., Black, S. H., & Jepsen, S. (2021). Evaluating firefly extinction risk: Initial red list assessments for North America. PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0259379.

Lewis, S. M., & Cratsley, C. K. (2008). Flash signal evolution, mate choice, and predation in fireflies. Annual Review of Entomology, 53, 293–321.

Lewis, S. M., Wong, C. H., Owens, A. C. S., Fallon, C., Jepsen, S., Thancharoen, A., Wu, C., De Cock, R., Novák, M., López-Palafox, T., Khoo, V., & Reed, J. M. (2020). A global perspective on firefly extinction threats. BioScience, 70(2), 157–167.

Luk, S. P. L., Marshall, S. A., & Branham, M. A. (2011). The fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) of Ontario. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, 16, 1–105.

Advice, Garden Design, Native Plants

Downsizing Your Garden to make it easier to Manage

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By Rachel Burrows, Master Gardener

As I get older and want to age in place, my current garden has become too large to manage. I also know that if I have to move, an extensive landscape may scare off potential buyers. So, it is time to take a long hard look at my garden and the plants in it. I have put together some suggestions and ideas to make it easier to enjoy your garden.

First of all, plan ahead to reduce the amount of time and physical effort needed to maintain the garden and make it easier to manage. And enjoy.

  • Prioritize a few plants that hold special memories that you really love and recognize that you want to keep them.
  • Ask your self the following questions about your perennials.
    • Is it waterwise?
    • Does it need staking or trellising?
    • Is it drought or heat resistant?
    • Does it get a lot of insect damage?
    • Does it require dead heading?
    • After blooming is it boring?

You may want to take out and give away high maintenance plants that meet the criteria above and think about replacing with these ideas.

  • Emphasize foliage rather than flowers
  • Choose grasses such as Karl Foester,or Panicum vigatum
  • Choose shade plants such as foam flower (tiarella), wild ginger (asarum canadense), Japanese painted fern (Athyrium Nipponicum Pictum)

These will provide interest and texture and need little care.

  • Shrubs offer more value for less  work: Spireas, Hydrangeas, prostrate blue spruce, ninebark. The birds will love you!
  • Hardy perennials such as Sedum Autumn Joy, Lambs Ears, Siberian Iris, Day Lilies, Anise Hyssop Blue Fortune (Agastache)
  • Seasonal perennial bulbs.
  • Use raised beds and containers. They are easier to reach, don’t get as many weeds and don’t need as much bending.

Lawns can require a lot of time to mow and trim. Think about shrinking grass areas and replace with ground covers such as creeping thyme. The bees love thyme and it can be run over occasionally with a mower Another idea is to replace grass with a stone feature. There may be a teenager in the area willing to mow and use a weed whacker for a reasonable price.

Go native and replace some of the lawn with a meadow garden of native grasses and flowers. Once established this only needs mowing once a year. However, this needs a lot of research and planning in order for it to be successful.

I grassed over my vegetable garden and just grow veggies in a raised bed and containers; realizing that the containers will need fertilizing.  I find this provides me with enough vegetables, needs little weeding and less bending.

I plan to remain in my bungalow for several years and hope to be able to manage and enjoy my lower maintenance garden.

Further information;

Slowgardenlife.com by Catherine A. Carte: 47 low maintenance garden ideas

www. gardendesign.com

Gardening for a Lifetime – how to garden wisely as you get older by Sydney Eddison

Advice, Garden Cleanup, Hedging, Pruning

Have You Heard of a Dead Hedge?

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By Lois Scott, Master Gardener

A dead hedge, rather than being someone’s landscaping failure, is a convenient way to recycle wood and other garden trimmings generated in our gardens.  It is basically a controlled pile of material that accumulates from pruning woody plants such as shrubs or other garden detritus. Brush piles are valuable but the idea here is to create a structure as a design element in your garden.  It could serve as a privacy screen, a garden bed edging, windbreak or even a plant support.  The gardener determines the height, width and length within some suggested guidelines.  Your construction can be boxy, wavy, tall or short depending on your garden design needs and preferences.  There a number of resources that offer details on the construction and benefits of a dead hedge.

A dead hedge is comprised of 2 opposing rows of supports that are pounded into the ground.  The rows can be as narrow as you want up to approximately 1.5 metres apart.  The stakes in each row can also be close together or up to 1.5 metres apart.  Wooden stakes, tree branches or steel rebar pounded into the ground make up the supporting structure.  These 2 rows create a gap which you then start filling with your chosen material.  The material in a dead hedge will compress and decompose over time making it possible to keep adding to it.  Meanwhile your hedge is providing habit and food for mammals, birds and insects plus adding nutrients to the soil.  Master Gardener Thom Luloff’s blog on the importance of dead wood in the garden is an excellent read.

Apios Americana, American Groundnut winding into the dead hedge. Photo: Lois Scott

The idea of a dead hedge had huge appeal for me as every pruning job produced a pile of trimmings that needed to be cut up, bundled and put out as yard waste.  It takes fewer cuts for me to fit it on my hedge and no need to package it up and haul it to the curb.  I was also running out of places to ‘artistically’ place wood in my garden. 

Dead hedge blending into the garden. Photo: Lois Scott

My dead hedge screens the compost bins in a back corner of the garden, plants growing around it integrate it into the garden and the wildlife loves it!  For me, it is a very positive addition to my controlled chaos garden.

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An Easier Way to Garden – Raised Vegetable Garden Beds

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By Christine Freeburn, Master Gardener

Last fall, we replaced our wooden deck and had those old untreated cedar boards to dispose of. I had my handy husband build a 4’ W X 9’ L X 3’ H box in my existing vegetable garden.  We placed it in an area that gets at least 6 hours of sun.

Doing this in the fall allowed me to fill the bottom with the woody stems, disease free plant material, and maple leaves from my yard as I did my fall clean up. We waited until the spring to add a yard of top soil and compost which topped it off.

There are many benefits to raised garden beds

Agility and mobility issues

  • As we age, getting up and down in the garden becomes more difficult.

Soil issues

  • Because we no longer till our garden beds, compaction is a real problem, but if we are not walking on these beds, soil compaction is not a big issue.
  • Soil in raised bed tends to warm up earlier in the spring.
  • You need only improve soil in growing beds and not on pathways or unused areas.

Easier to weed

  • Planting rows close together because you don’t need to walk between, makes less bare soil for weeds to grow in.
  • Weeding on your knees is not necessary.
  • Use straw, woodchips or mulch on your pathways.
  • There are many options and considerations.

Materials they are made from

  • Wood is a common material and there are many prebuilt varieties.
  • Use only untreated wood if you are building your own.
  • Galvanized metal premade are very popular.

Size

  • Ensure your box is only 4’ wide, so you can reach into the bed without climbing in.
  • You can make the bed as long as you like…what fits the site and your needs.
  • There should be no bottom in your raised bed – for drainage as well as for root growth. Most beds are at least 8” high, giving good space for good garden soil.
  • Height can be anywhere from 6” to 4’, depending on how far down you want to bend when gardening and how far up you plan to grow your vegetables
  • Check out shapes and sizes in this article from Niki Jabbour.

Placement

  • Once installed and filled with soil, these are permanent structures, so be sure they are in enough sun (at least 6 hours).
  • For safety, be sure your box is level.

What you grow in raised beds

  • Vegetables like carrots, radish, beets, lettuce, chard, kale, cabbage, broccoli, and other brassicas are all good candidates
  • Peas and beans do well, but remember you may need to stake or have trellis for these taller vegetables.
  • Squash, cucumbers and zucchini may take over your raised bed, so you will have to train the plants to climb or have them trail outside your container.
  • Potatoes or leeks that need soil topping, may not work unless they are in a separate bed or area of the raised bed, where you will dig a trench and top up as they grow.
  • Tomatoes are often indeterminate, so may grow too tall for a raised bed of 4”. You probably only need a bed that is a foot or two deep.

Over the summer, the material in the bottom of my newly constructed bed composted and compressed and the soil dropped about 8”. If you are setting up your raised bed in the fall, I would recommend adding the top soil/compost in the fall and then topping up again in the spring.

And you will probably have to top up with fresh soil and compost every year as the soil settles and the “filler” you put in the bottom decomposes and shrinks. Also remember that crop rotation will still be important.

I am very happy I don’t have to bend over to pick beans and weeding has become so much easier.

There are many ideas on social media for raised beds. Check out these sites.

Peterborough Master Gardeners website search on raised beds

Raised Bed Gardens

Best vegetables to grow in raised beds

Advice, Bees & Pollinators, Garden Design, Native Plants

Diversity: One Earth, Many Ways to Grow

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By Amanda McIlmoyle, Master Gardener in Training

“Nature does nothing uselessly.”  Aristotle

Diversity is one of nature’s greatest strengths. Every organism, from the smallest insect to the largest tree, plays a unique role in the overall health of a garden. Nature is purposeful, deeply connected, and rewards us with incredible beauty when we provide our plants with the environment they need to thrive.

There are countless ways to think about diversity in the garden. From the types of plants we select, the wildlife that populates them, to the gardening practices that encourage a healthy microbiome in our soil, the topic of diversity is vast.  As gardeners, we spend a great deal of time planning our spaces to make them uniquely our own. However, when people think about diversity, their focus often shifts to visual diversity. While aesthetics are absolutely important, as our spaces are, after all, a reflection of our personality and preferences, the visual piece is just one part of a much larger puzzle. Let’s look beyond the visual appeal for a moment and explore a handful of other ways diversity truly matters.

Why Diversity Matters:

  • A diverse garden supports a healthy soil microbiome.  Diversity helps manage harmful pathogens, it improves nutrient cycling and feeds the beneficial organisms in the soil. 
  • Diversity also improves the soil structure.  A variety of plant root systems can help create channels within the soil that improve the flow of water and oxygen while providing different habitats and food sources for soil organisms.
  • Diversity in the garden also supports native pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and even beetles, wasps and hummingbirds along with all sorts of other beneficial wildlife.  A variety of plants provides these vital creatures, with a continuous supply of nutrients and areas for shelter.

How Do We Work Towards Diversity:  

  • Incorporate native plants into your garden, as these provide food and shelter for local wildlife while also supporting pollinators and wildlife.  Its important to become familiar with the native plants in your specific area as these plants thrive in local growing conditions along with local ecosystem. 
  • Choose a variety of plants with different shapes, sizes and bloom times to provide broader options of food sources and shelter for pollinators and wildlife throughout each growing season.   
  • Avoid harmful chemicals, as much as possible as they can alter the health of the soil and negatively impact the beneficial bugs in the garden. 
  • Leave spent foliage in the fall as dead stalks, mounds of leaves or dead flower heads can provide food and shelter to wildlife and pollinators during the colder months. 

Nature provides us with what we need to not only survive but to also thrive.  In a natural environment, there is a continuous exchange amongst producers (organisms that create their own food), consumers (all living things that rely on producers for food) and the decomposers (organisms that turn waste back into essential nutrients that feed producers). 

As gardeners, we act as environmental stewards; whether consciously or unconsciously, through the basic act of gardening.   For me, it doesn’t matter if your garden consists of a handful of houseplants , containers on a balcony,  an assortment of perennials or natives or expansive fields as part of the larger farming community.  Simply by gardening, we have an opportunity to contribute to the health and diversity of our planet. 

In short, diversity matters!

Resources

Bird-Friendly Gardens: Supporting Bird Habitat in Every Season

5 Reasons to Grow a Diverse Garden

Why is Plant Diversity Important for a Garden?

Pollinator Garden: A Toronto Master Gardeners Guide

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The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

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by Marilyn Homewood, Master Gardener

We have now just slipped into the first days of August, a time that most of us can stop and catch our breaths.  Spring cleanup, plant division and new plantings seem to be a distant memory (it wasn’t that much work, was it??). 

Upcoming fall tasks like seed saving, bulb planting and dahlia dividing are still far enough away not to seem real. Settling on a topic for a blog post just seems like too hard a task.  Garden musings might be more in tune with the time of year.

Of course, I am still busy in the garden as there are the omnipresent weeds that need to be dealt with and the harvesting that goes along with a cut flower patch. At least there is something to harvest.  What a change from the drought of last year.  Rainfall was so scarce at my place that most of my cut flowers performed poorly and went uncut.  Being on a dug well means managing water resources. 

As I now look around the garden, the daylilies which came on fast at the beginning of July and were quite bountiful are now fading away.  The purple coneflowers have been blooming for a couple of weeks and with rainfall look to go on for a bit longer. Even the lupines that were planted last fall are still showing some bloom.

The return of the lilies this year was a welcome sight.  Last year, not a single lily bud (Asiatic or Oriental-Trumpet [OT] hybrid) survived the ravages of the chipmunks who were most likely looking for moisture due to the lack of rainfall.  While I am used to the buds being swiped from the shorter Asiatics, my OT hybrids which are 5 to 6 feet tall, usually go untouched.  Not last year!

In my nursery bed at the back, I have a large stand of Liatris ligulistylis. It is starting to be filled with monarch butterflies stopping for some nectar. It truly is a monarch magnet.

field of echinacea plants

In the cutting garden, the Sweet William, Marigold and Zinnia are blooming like crazy and the Lisianthus is just starting to bloom.

Heading back towards the house, I pass by the form of Alium schubertii, planted last fall less for the bloom and more for its architecture. They look rather like a something better suited to outer space than an Ontario garden.  I like the effect and will be adding more.

As I reach the side porch, my gaze falls upon a bulb crate full of drying Bells of Ireland that I am attempting to save seed from and on a seed tray of biennial Sweet William that I have started for planting this fall. 

Better enjoy this break, the fall is coming!

Advice, Garden rejuvenation

The Unexpected Gift of a Garden Makeover

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By Silvia Strobl, Master Gardener

In March 2020, as the COVID shutdown closed garden centres and much of everyday life, my husband and I began the first phase of making my mother’s garden easier to maintain. Her Hamilton home had long been hidden from the street by a dense Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) hedge and a tall wooden driveway gate.

The hedge was much hated by my brothers and I when we still lived there because we had to help trim it every 3 weeks during the growing season. And now my 80-year-old Mom was still climbing a ladder to trim it, worrying us all!

Photo: Silvia Strobl CC-BY NC SA: The Chinese Elm hedge and the wooden driveway gate (left) had been hiding an ornate Victorian wrought-iron fence for at least 60 years.

When she suggested restoring the antique Victorian fence buried within the hedge, I eagerly agreed. It was the perfect opportunity to remove both the hedge and the front lawn, creating a lower-maintenance landscape.

Photo: Silvia Strobl CC-BY NC SA: Chinese Elm can be identified by its small, simple, alternate leaves that are elliptical to ovate, dark green, glossy, and finely serrated. Leaves are 1–2.5 inches long, with an asymmetrical base and a lateral vein ending in a tooth.

To prevent the vigorous Chinese Elm from resprouting, we dug several inches below each stump and made a second cut beneath the soil surface. We replaced the hedge and lawn with conifers for year-round structure, flowering shrubs for seasonal colour, and natural cedar mulch over landscape fabric to reduce watering and weeding.

Photos: Silvia Strobl CC-BY NC SA: Chinese elm stems were first cut above soil level (left), then soil was dug out around each stump (right) so that root stocks could be cut again several inches below the soil surface to prevent resprouting. The restored Victorian fence and newly smithed matching driveway gate had already been installed before work began.

Photos: Silvia Strobl CC-BY NC SA: Preparation of holes (left) and freshly planted columnar white cedars, Dwarf Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), European Smoke Bush (Cotinus coggygria), Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) and Goldmound Spirea (Spirea japonica) (right). Landscape cloth covered by natural cedar mulch was used to minimize both watering in early years of establishment and weeding.

Results and an Unexpected Reward

The transformation eliminated the constant hedge trimming and lawn mowing. After the first year of regular watering, maintenance was limited to my annual pruning of the Potentilla and Spirea, coppicing the Smoke Bush, and topping up the cedar mulch each spring.

The biggest surprise, however, was how opening the garden to the street transformed my mother’s experience. The restored Victorian fence and new driveway gate allowed passersby to admire the perennial gardens inside, which I had also helped refresh in 2020. People regularly stopped to compliment her, and some even said they had changed their walking route so they could enjoy it every day. Those conversations and kind words brought my mother tremendous joy. Gardens are meant to be shared, and for nearly 50 years the solid wooden gate and Chinese Elm hedge had hidden this one from view.

Photos: Silvia Strobl CC-BY NC SA: View into the garden from the new driveway gate.

In 2022, she opened her garden for the now-discontinued Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week, and it was featured in the Hamilton Spectator by organizer and columnist Rob Howard.

One of the many people who admired the garden while walking his dog later nominated my mother for a City of Hamilton Trillium Award, which recognizes excellence in residential landscaping and community beautification. In 2024, she was delighted to receive a White Trillium Award, that recognizes the top-scoring gardens in each city ward, and was honoured with the award again in 2025.

Gardening has been a lifelong passion for my mother. Transforming the front garden into a beautiful, low-maintenance landscape not only eliminated the demanding chore of biweekly hedge and lawn care, but also created a space that brings joy to both the gardener and everyone who passes by.

REFERENCES

Biology Insights. 2026. How to Get Rid of Chinese Elm Trees for Good. https://biologyinsights.com/how-to-get-rid-of-chinese-elm-trees-for-good/

RELATED

Gardening as We Age

Books, Dreams, Garden Design, Perennials

As Good as it Gets!

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By Marjorie Vendrig, Master Gardener

We are into the dog days of summer, too hot to do much actual gardening, but a good time to enjoy the garden.

As you wander through your garden, remember to stop and smell the roses, take note of what brings a smile to your face.  Where have you found success in the garden? What have you enjoyed?  

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), another native, also put on a great show this spring.

So far, so good in my garden!  Spring was slow to come but the cool and wet weather allowed spring flowering bulbs and shrubs to hold onto their petals for an extended period. Often, there is a hot spell that puts a too quick end to those blossoms that took months to arrive. This year was different with daffodils, tulips, and alliums lasting for weeks and weeks. From the early forsythias, the magnolias, to the treasured native serviceberry, lilacs, and all that follows, it was a spectacular show of spring flowers.

Red Mohican allium in the afternoon sun

Sicilian Honey garlic (Allium siculum) is one of my favourite bulbs. I planted several in fall 2024 but was disappointed when only small flowers with weak stems emerged in their first season. Somewhat discouraged, but still enamoured with the flower, I planted a few more bulbs in the fall of 2025. This spring all of the bulbs put on a good show. Those in the second year had stronger, sturdier stems with bigger flowers and the first year bulbs were equally pleasing.  I also splurged on some less common bulbs: hair allium (Allium vineale ‘Hair’) – weird, disheveled, and late flowering; Schubertii allium (Allium shubertii) – perfect for dried flower interest long after the flowers have faded, and a couple of Red Mohican allium (Allium amethystinum) – big and bold.

Coral Charm Peony

There were a few days of hot weather when the peonies opened up but the heat didn’t last and they didn’t get flattened by a hard, strong rainstorm. Coral Charm is my current favourite peony, I wait every spring for it to bloom and when it does, I stop by and admire it several times a day. I’ve got mine planted beside Sun King Golden Spikenard (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’), a perfect contrast that makes each more special.  Another favourite is the classic Sarah Bernhardt, I can’t help but stick my nose into the luscious soft petals when they appear. And of course, the Itoh peonies!

A few years ago I was inspired by a clematis grower who claimed there was always room for more clematis anywhere in the garden, especially at the base of trees where they could scramble up and around the trunk and in through the branches. I found a few clematis at an end of season sale – sadly, all unnamed – and planted them as suggested, at the base of a few trees. The tree flowers first, then gets decorated once again when it’s time for the clematis to bloom. This worked particularly well with a lilac coloured clematis that wound its way up through the purple red leaves of a crabapple (Malus ‘Thunderchild’). Blossoms face downward, they nod happily  amongst the small purple crab apples. It’s an exquisite combination. A native clematis, Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana) is fragrant, quick growing and perfect to scramble up the leafless branches of a  suffering Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa; the tree lost a large limb in the ice storm, then suffered through the cold winter. There’s new growth at the base and on one of the limbs; for now, the clematis has a built in trellis until I decide whether the tree will remain.)

Unnamed clematis scrambling up ‘Thunderchild’ crab-apple

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Amber Jubilee’) has been a thing of beauty since it first started to leaf out. The leaves emerge bright green, with a tinge of amber, then shifting to orange and gold before the small white blossoms appear on previous years’ growth. The blossoms turn red and all the while there is a happy crowd of pollinators buzzing around. Equally appealing and another native, is the serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) . Early in July it was a great source of food for birds, there are none left for us, but we admire it daily since it first showed its welcome white blossoms in early spring. It will bring another flush of colour in the fall.

Unnamed clematis growing on an arbour

The show is not over, the daylilies are here, dahlias are just beginning to bud out and they will take centre-stage right through October or until a very hard frost. Amongst them and scattered throughout the garden, are the nodding stems of Verbena (Verbena bonariensis ). These are an annual but self-seed from one year to the next. I take care not to disturb the soil where they were planted the previous year and then transplant the seedlings throughout the garden once the stems and stalks of the tulips and daffodils are ready to be cleared away. Enjoy it all!

Dahlia and verbena

A few suggestions for reading in the garden:

The Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Regions by Rick Gray and Shawn Booth

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing

RHS The Creative Gardener: Inspiration and Advice to Create the Space You Want by Adam Frost

Advice, Bees & Pollinators, Botanical Names, Butterflies and Moths, Invasive, Native Plants, New Gardens, Planting, Shade Gardening, Sun Gardening, Wildflowers, Winter Sowing

Beware those Wildflower Mixes!

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    By Emma Murphy, Master Gardener

    The Oxford Dictionary defines “wildflower” as “a flower of an uncultivated variety or a flower growing freely without human intervention.”  It has nothing to do with the species’ native range, its benefits for pollinators, or its impacts on ecosystems. A “wildflower” could be native, non-native or at worst invasive.

    Last year at this time, I wrote a blog post about roadside wildflowers. Most of these flowers (like chicory [Cichorium intybus] on the left or Oxeye Daisy [Leucanthemum vulgare]) are non-native opportunists from Europe or Asia that colonize quickly on disturbed sites or ditches and wetlands and outcompete native species, but lots of people assume they are native because they’re everywhere along roadsides (I did for years!).

    The bottom line? Wildflower does not equal native.

    So, if you want to buy a wildflower mix to create a long-term habitat for native pollinators, beneficial insects, and bees in your gardens, the mixes found at big box stores and large nurseries are probably not the mixes you want.

    Why the Label can Mislead

    A lot of retail “wildflower” mixes are designed for fast colour. They focus on non-native annual flowers, which bloom quickly and beautifully in the first season but fail to support local pollinators (and isn’t that the point?), or can even become invasive.

    While mixes don’t need to be exclusively comprised of species native to Ontario to provide good habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects (although that’s the best case scenario), they shouldn’t be invasive and should be perennials so that your garden continues to look good year after year.

    Why is this Important?

    Pollinators need more than flowers that simply look pretty. They need plants that fit local conditions and provide food, shelter, and nesting support over time – that are beneficial to the local ecosystem.

    What’s the biggest red flag? Seed mixes that only provide the common names of species instead of the scientific (Latin) names. While common names can be easier to remember and pronounce, they also vary by region, and one plant can have several different common names. This can cause confusion about what the actual species is.

    A Case in Point

    Last year at the PMG A Day for Gardeners a lady approached me with a large bag of pollinator seed mix as I was working on the advice table. She wanted to know if it was good. There were no Latin names (first red flag) so I asked her to leave it with me to investigate.

    After checking as best I could we determined that almost 80 percent of the seeds were not native and were annuals. She planned on returning the bag to the store.

    The Problem with Mixed Seed Packets

    • Big companies that sell across Canada create one seed mix to sell across the entire country but what might be native in Alberta probably won’t be in Ontario
    • Seeds have different germination requirements so you may find some seeds don’t germinate at all
    • Different seeds may not grow well together
    • Some seeds may not like your site conditions and others may become dominant

    The worst problem is if they contain non-native, invasive seeds.

    Let’s look at an example. McKenzie Wildflowers Pollinator Mix.

    1. Only five flowers native to Ontario (*) and all less than 5% of the mix except for the Purple Coneflower, which is 12.67% and Lanceleaf coreopsis, which is 6.33%
    2. The first three flowers, which comprise over 42% of the mix, are all non-native
    3. Your seeds are only 14% of the mix – the rest is vermiculite (filler)

    Here’s a full breakdown.

    Better Ways to Choose

    The best seed mixes are transparent. They tell you exactly which species are included, how much of each is in the packet, and whether the plants are native to your region. Regional native mixes can be useful, especially when they include a balance of annuals and perennials and are clearly suited to your regional climate.

    If you’re serious about supporting biodiversity, the most important thing you can do is choose seeds that are native to your specific region.

    I’ve seen several companies create better wildflower mixes in the past few years, including Northern Wildflowers, Native Plants in Claremont, OSC and, for large projects, St Williams Ecology Centre. I’m sure there are others I have missed so be sure to comment if you know any!

    One key thing to remember with native plant seeds is that most need winter stratification (a cool, wet natural dormancy period over winter) to germinate well. That means that direct garden sowing should take place in the late fall after the first frost (mid-September to November, depending on your region), not in the spring. If seeds can’t be stratified, many will not germinate until the following spring and germination rates may be slightly lower.

    A Simple Rule for Gardeners

    If your goal is to truly help pollinators, choose local native plants first and sow your seeds in the fall for best germination. Avoid mystery mixes (especially those with only common names), check the label closely, and be cautious of bags that promise an instant meadow without giving details. Colourful flowers are nice, but real pollinator support comes from the right plants in the right place, and that doesn’t happen overnight.

    Choose the Right Seeds – Go Native, Not Just “Wild”


    Additional Reading

    Planting, Vegetable Gardening

    Fresh Crops for Fall: Make the Most of Your Garden This Season

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    By Brandi McNeely, Master Gardener in Training

    It’s mid-July in my Zone 5b garden, and it’s hot. My zucchini and cucumbers have finally started producing after a cold, challenging spring, tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and I’m harvesting bush beans by the handful. While it feels like peak gardening season, I’m already planning my next harvest. Mid-summer is the perfect time to think about succession planting – a simple way to keep your garden productive well into the fall.

    Succession planting is the practice of sowing new crops as others finish, allowing you to make the most of your growing season and garden space.

    In Peterborough, Ontario, our growing season averages about 150 frost-free days, leaving plenty of time for another crop before fall.

    What I’m harvesting: Garlic

    By the end of July, I’m pulling my garlic crop and curing it before storage, leaving a large empty patch in my garden.

    What I’m succession planting: Bush Beans

    Bush beans have a short seeding to harvest window, 50 to 60 days, meaning I can plant another round where my garlic has been pulled and get a harvest before first frost.

    What I’m harvesting: Zucchini and Cucumbers

    My cucurbit crop is usually showing signs of stress in late summer, and I will often pull plants that are no longer producing.

    What I’m succession planting: Root Vegetables

    The empty space left by my cucumber and zucchini plants can be filled by fall root crops like beets, carrots and turnips. These crops can often take a few light frosts before being harvested.

    What I’m harvesting: Leafy Greens

    Lettuce is notorious for bolting in summer heat, becoming bitter and unappetizing. Time to pull your sad lettuce plants to make room.

    What I’m succession planting: Brassicas

    Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower thrive in cool weather. Sowing them now means that you can have a bountiful fall harvest that will easily withstand a few light frosts.

    A few things to remember when succession planting:

    Your newly available garden space will more than likely be depleted of nutrients and require a boost. Before planting a new crop, amend the soil with compost to support healthy growth.

    New plants will need protection from pests that have already established. Be sure to cover brassicas to protect them from cabbage moth damage, and inspect your garden every few days for insect and disease damage.

    Seeds planted in mid-summer can dry out more quickly than spring plantings. Keep your soil consistently moist until seedlings are established, and use a layer of mulch once plants emerge to retain moisture.

    Always check the days to harvest information on seed packets. If you’re planting seeds in mid-July and your first frost is typically October 1st, you have about 70 growing days available. As long as the plant you choose matures in less than 70 days, you should be safe to plant.

    Don’t think of July as the beginning of the end of your garden. Think of it as the beginning of your fall harvest. With a little planning and the right crops, you can continue harvesting fresh vegetables well into the fall.

    Resources for further reading on succession planting:

    Ontario Planting Calendar

    Seeds for Successional Planting

    Succession Planting Chart