Native Plant Garden Tour: Shirley and Andy's Garden

Shirley and Andy come from a background in ecology (human and non-human), and were eager to add native wildflowers and grasses to their small urban yard community. They began their native garden with about 25 seedlings (ordered from Manitoba's Prairie Originals) of half a dozen species, which they selected because they had fallen in love with them on walks in native prairies. Not many of them survived.

They reassessed and realized that they needed to plant species that would grow well in our mainly sunny, very dry yard. They also realized that, although native species are "drought tolerant", their seedlings are not and needed to be watered regularly. Throughout the next few years they added more than 20 species and over 120 seedlings, watering them through their first year, talking to them as they grew, and weeding less as less as the natives grew into the soil.

Today, they have a 15' x 6' patch of diverse colourful native perennial flowers and grasses, and half a dozen shrubs. Every year they are visited by a few species of birds, 2 types of wild mammals, 3-6 species of native bees, 2-5 species of butterfly (including monarchs), and myriad other busy pollinators.

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.