Native Plant Garden Tour: Ken and Christine

Ken and Christine began removing their lawn after buying their home in 1999. The front garden is a woodland dominated by a mature Colorado blue spruce tree, with an understory of dogwoods, pincherry, nannyberry, western Canada violet, Solomon’s seal, and northern bedstraw. There is a small area of grassland species around a small bur oak tree, with wild rose, asters, bergamot, saskatoons, and hazelnut, all growing near artworks by Regina sculptor Sean Whalley. Three lodgepole pines, a large chokecherry, and silver buffaloberry also grace the garden.

ETIQUETTE AND SUGGESTIONS FOR GARDEN TOUR PARTICIPANTS:

1. The event will be identified with a Nature Regina yard sign.

2. Don’t pick the seed. Many gardeners would like to save the seed for birds. Seed may be available from Nature Regina.

3. If the site is a private garden ask permission to take photos. Many Volunteers have been showing their yard all day. Don’t outwear your welcome, leave at the time noted on the schedule. Front yards can of course be viewed outside of official garden hours. Put show respect and stay on the public sidewalk. Stick to the pathways unless the garden caretakers say you can walk on the lawn;

4. If its hot remember a water bottle and hat.

5. If you have children, please monitor them. Do not let them run through the garden beds. No pets in the gardens.

6. Be kind and understanding. Using native plants has a different aesthetic, and success is not measured in garden design elements, but in the

number of insects and birds that come to your yard. We have many types of yards from manicured to wild, from newly planted, to well-established.