Swallowtail Native Plants

Goodbye April! It was a lovely month full of early ephemeral flowers, site preparation and the songs of spring peepers.

This month we have been experimenting with germinating seeds in water. While many species did not germinate, we had some nice surprises. Bebb's sedge (Carex bebbii) and Spotted Joe Pye w**d (Eutrochium maculatum) both germinated well. And we had some germination from Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum), a species that is challenging to germinate reliably. You can read more in our April newsletter: https://www.swallowtailnativeplants.ca/newsletter/april-2026-newsletter-water/

The February newsletter is on the website now. This month we have a quick update on winter sowing and my latest experiment, using aquarium bubbles to germinate seeds! As always you can sign up to have our newsletter delivered directly to your inbox.

Join Ewa Bednarczuk to learn how to transform your yard into habitat. This 6 week online course with the Neighborhood Habitat School will give you the knowledge and skills to create habitat in your own backyard. Register at https://www.neighbourhoodhabitat.ca/services-8

Our January newsletter is available on the website. Link in bio. As always, you can sign up to have our newsletter delivered directly to your inbox. Enjoy!

Our December newsletter is available on our website. We talk about three different ways to sow your native seeds. You can always sign up to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox. https://www.swallowtailnativeplants.ca/newsletter/december-2025-time-to-sow/

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Tomorrow we will have our seeds and some maidenhair ferns for our last market of the season. See you soon

We have now planted over three thousand seedlings this season, with lots still to plant. So far we have planted over 25 different species, I think we are about halfway done. Pictured here is Swamp milkw**d (𝘈𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢).

The plants we put in last year are doing great, we've just started collecting seeds from a few of our very early species.

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Seeds are forming on the early spring species! 1. Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), 2. Mitrewort (Mitella diphylla), 3. Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum).

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There were so many of these Eastern Pine Elfin butterflies on the Field Pussytoes this afternoon! When I started putting in all of the native plants last year for the seed orchard I expected that after a while there would be an increase in pollinators, but I am already seeing way more butterflies than I have ever seen around here.

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