We are really lucky, here in the Hamilton area to have the talented and highly knowledgeable, Paul O'Hara to advice us on the best native plants to grow in our gardens, in order to create high-quality habitat for pollinators.
Paul is a field botanist, landscape designer and native plant gardening expert.
His business is Blue Oak Native Landscapes .
​Paul has given us permission to share his "Notes on Native Plant Gardening in the Golden Horseshoe."
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa): Photo credit, Paul O'Hara.
Hamilton is located on the extreme northern edge of the Deciduous Forest region of Carolinian Canada (which has 25% of Canada's rare and endangered species, according to O'Hara).
In planting habitat for this region, O'Hara's list provides plant selections (including trees, for which is business is known for) that flower at different times, providing nectar and pollen sources throughout the growing season. He also provides plant selection for winter interest.
Check out his amazing plant list.
​Pollination Guelph has created a number of resources: click a link below to download the PDF document. Visit their Web Links page for a greater diversity of resources to help you protect pollinators and their habitats.
Ontario Native Plants Ontario Native Plants is an online plant retailer, dedicated to supplying native trees, shrub, grasses and perennials to Ontario gardeners. They are a family run business that has been producing and selling top quality seedlings to wholesale nurseries for over 50 years. Ontario Native Plants was born out of the desire to provide the public with the same high-quality native plants. All plants are grown at their nursery in Hamilton from Ontario source identified seed.
Verbinnen's Nursery specializes in growing native (indigenous) species of tree and shrub seedlings. Their products are used for naturalization projects, roadside plantings, commercial and residential landscaping and for growing on in larger containers and field production.
Native Plant Provider Registry This is a free, downloadable resource offered as part of Carolinian Canada's initiative with World Wildlife Fund - Canada, In the Zone(www.inthezonegardens.ca), to help gardeners find the best possible sources for their native plants.
Are all their plants locally and ethically sourced? Is plant source history available? Are they open to the public year-round or only at certain times?
Do they sell wholesale or retail? What kinds of plants do they sell (wildflower seeds, aquatics, trees, shrubs, perennials, etc.)?
Ontario Biodiversity Council Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. This group is working together to keep Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy alive.