Did you know that autumn is a great time to plant? Things planted in the fall will have two good months to establish themselves, without having to deal with the heat and dryness of summer.
There will be a great opportunity to procure native plants, all nursery-grown, right here in the West Carleton area when the Native Plants & Clay sale returns in early September. Held in the woods at Pine Ridge on the Carp Road, it will feature many rare, unusual or hard-to-source plants from Jewel Wing Gardens, as well as a selection of native ferns grown by Pine Ridge Garden.
Trish Murphy, owner of Jewel Wing Gardens, specializes in plants native to the Ottawa Valley as well as garden-worthy wildflowers from elsewhere in Eastern Canada. All her plants are nursery propagated and ready for fall planting. Trish also has the answer to many of your gardening questions. Her years of hands-on work with native plants make her an amazing resource to help you learn about native plants — how to grow them, how to propagate them, how to design your garden using them. She can tell you which are the best pollinator attractors, which produce edible fruit, which fit easily into different gardening styles, and which require serious specialist knowledge to establish.
Did you know that there are native ferns suitable for many different garden situations? Lis Allison of Pine Ridge Garden can show you ferns that grow in the shade, in the sun, near water, on rocks… and she will have a selection of these available for fall planting. And did you know that many of our local ferns are easy to grow? Dependable, long-lived, interesting by themselves but also a great background for flowering plants — Lis can answer your questions about ferns, and she will also have a small collection of pottery decorated with native plant designs available for sale.
For answers to your gardening questions, a chance to pick up some new species for your garden, and an enjoyable visit to a garden that contains many native plants, come to the Native Plants & Clay sale at Pine Ridge, 6114 Carp Road, on September 12 and 13 from 10am to 4pm both days. For more details, visit beauxarbres.ca or pine-ridge.ca.