Please keep an eye out for your Red Columbine seeds! We can use all that we can get. Thanks! #seeds #seedsaving #nativeplants #gardening youtu.be/Ahhhal9LmHs?...

Time to keep an eyed out for Sprengle or Long Beak Sedge seeds! youtu.be/sJE2dL7iVEQ?...

Time to start monitoring your Foamflowers for seeds! #seeds #diy #gardening youtu.be/9pOFk98ZHz4?...

We will bring spring seeds to our June 28 event for you to pick and sow promptly! You can drop off seed donations at any of our events. Thanks! #seeds #ottawa #free

Check your Prairie Smoke for harvesting! #nativeplants #seeds youtu.be/zElPzy0xo-4?...

A little Swamp milkweed Beetle munching on Common Milkweed @ #milkweedformonarchs #gardening #plants #garden

Don’t have time to monitor all your seed pods? Put organza bags around them! No need to check on them daily anymore. #diy #tips #seedsaving

Bowman’s root is in bloom! #nativeplants #plants #gardening

Virginia’s Waterleaf is in bloom! Its a good short option for a shade garden. Bumble bees love it! #nativeplants #areyoureadytobumble #bumblebees

My favourite fleabane is in bloom! Philadelphia Fleabane! It’s a host plant and it feeds tiny bees and flies. Different bloom sizes feed different beings so it’s a good idea to have a variety at different times of year. #nativeplants #bees #savethebees

Meet the Board and learn about what we are working on during our upcoming open doors! Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #seeds #seedlibrary #opendoors

The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library has a newsletter now! Register to know what is going on and what events are coming up! #seedlibrary #freeseeds #nativeplants bloomandbuzz.substack.com/p/the-bloom-...

This Polyphemus moth did not have much time to herself! She is hanging on to the cocoon she left 24 hours ago! Already mating! #moth #butterfly #leavetheleaves #nativeplants #gardening

I was visited by a Polyphemus moth! Leaving the leaves works! She was hidden in a pile of leaves and I hung her up. #leavetheleaves #moth #butterfly #nativeplants

Blue Bottle Gentian's blooms can only be opened by bumblebees. #nativeplants #plants #gardening

Geranium maculatum is a great native alternative to the non-native geranium. It remains short, blooms in shade at this time of year. What is not to love! #nativeplants #plants #gardening #garden

Sweet Joe Pye Weed is an excellence choice for shaded areas. I am growing mine in very very dry shade and it's happy. It's a tough plant that is loved by bees and butterflies. It also add a touch of pink to your shade area. #nativeplants #plants #gardening #butterflies #bees

Yes, we have a native hibiscus! It's called Swamp Rose Mallow and we will be giving free seeds to grow this beauty in the fall. #seeds #nativeplants #gardening

False sunflower is well loved by bees in the fall; their shape acts as a helipad! They are also the host plant of a red aphid that you might encounter on them. They start blooming in June and stop at frost. What is not to love! #nativeplants #gardening #seeds #fallbeauty

Low bush blueberries flowers are so cute! 🥰 #edible #nativeplants #flowers

American Red Currant in bloom! #edible #shrub #food #nativeplants

Love the shape of Red Columbine! It is also well loved by hummingbirds. #gardening #plantitandtheywillcome

My buddy is back! I have a Robin that follows me to the garden, and then once I am out, goes to where I gardened to pick some insects or in this case some mud. I had just transplanted some black eyed susan’s so I exposed the soil from the leaves. #birds #nativeplants #gardening

Grass-leaved goldenrod is not the most showy plant but it is loved by bees. It spreads tightly through rhizomes (roots) so I think it would be good to add to a sunny garden that is seeking to suppress the reappearance of invasives. #nativeplants #garden #plants

While Common Boneset prefers wet feet, I have seen it grow in a rocky, dry area. It's loved by bees and is a host plant for the Boneset Borer Moth and the Clymene Moth. #nativeplants #garden #gardening

Tussock cottongrass is a beautiful sedge that gets about 2 feet tall. It is a host plant for the Jutta Arctic butterfly. The look of it makes an area look whimsical. #nativeplants #plants #gardening #garden

Northern Willowherb is not a showy plant but it is a host plant for several moths and butterflies including the Mourning Cloak, Hawk Moth, and the White Admiral. It is a pioneer plant that will establish itself where the soil is disturbed. #nativeplants #gardening #plants

Flat top white aster is a lovely fall blooming option. It is loved by bees. Here are some pictures I took at the Fletcher's Wildlife Garden. #nativeplants #gardening #plants

Dutchman's breeches is another, short spring beauty., here pictured growing in the wild in our region. I find that they are a good native alternative to non-native bleeding hearts. #nativeplants #gardening #

The shape of Straw-coloured flatsedge reminds me of a wedding bouquet. They like to have wet feet if possible. I have mowed them by mistake and they keep growing! Picture by Donna Bos. #nativeplants #plants #gardening #garden

Canada Honewort is not the most showy plant, but it is a host plant for the Swallowtail butterfly. It is also short, blooms early and stays put. I grown my plants right on the edge of my property and they do not spread onto my neighbours' side. Photo by Donna Bos #nativeplants #gardening #plant

Tall coreopsis is one of our native alternative options for sunflowers. Here it is growing alongside the Fletcher's Wildlife Garden's building. #nativeplant #gardening #garden

Sweet fern is a short, plant that provides an exotic look to a garden. They can be used for nesting. Flowers have male (brown) and female catkins (yellow-green). They can be used to stabilize slopes. Photo by Donna Bos #gardening #nativeplants #plants

Wild basil is a short groundcover that does fill a space in a lot of gardens (for some reason not in mine). They work well in a shade or part shade spot. They get visits from tiny flies and bees. I use it as a filler between plants. #plants #nativeplants #gardening #garden

Eastern Spring-Beauty is a delicate, short plant that blooms in the spring. Here are some pictures I took in the wild in our region. #nativeplants #gardening #plants #flowers #spring

Richardson and his colleagues* have come up with yet another function for nectar's chemicals: as medicine for [bees]. They found compounds in the nectar cut the numbers of a common gut parasite in bumblebees by as much as 80 percent." www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis... #plants #bees

Any fans of blue flowers? Check this one out: Tall Bellflower. The bees love those blooms. It is annual or biennial so you need to sow seeds every year to get plants. Photos by Donna Bos. #nativeplant #gardening #plant

Hairy wood mint is a recent discovery for me. Not only is it short, it brings a pop of colour in my shade area. They tolerate shade and blooms for months! The bees love them! #nativeplants #gardening #garden

Canada Milkvetch is a nitrogen fixer that complements plants well in a garden. I use it to brush strokes of vertical white in my garden. You can see it amongst my black eyed susan's and swamp milkweed. Pictures by Donna Bos #plants #gardening #garden #nativeplants

A bumble bee in a Great Blue Lobelia. Only the females have pollen purses, (the yellow pouch on her back leg) which are called corbicula. They use it to carry pollen back. #bees #gardening #nativeplants

Butterfly milkweed is a must in every garden with a dry, sunny spot. It stays under three foot tall, does not spread and is one of the only plants that has an orange bloom. Once established, do not mulch it nor water it. Mine is especially loved by Flat-tailed leafcutter bees. #gardening #plants

I know that common milkweed is not for everybody; it pops here and there, making it difficult to contain in a garden. I love the smell, the shape of the bloom and the leaves, the fall colour, even the look of the fluff in the fall. It supports monarchs, milkweed tussocks, and some milkweed beetles.

Common Wood Nymph Butterfly's host plants are grasses such as Big Bluestem (Andropogon), Beggarsticks (Bidens), and Yellow False- Sorgum (Sorghastrum nutans). Adults like sap, rotting fruit as well as milkweeds, asters and vervains. #butterfly #nativeplants #gardening insectic.com/common-wood-...

I love how pretty the Swamp Milkweed blooms are. They are a host plant for the Monarchs butterflies and for the Milkweed Tussocks moth. Their preferred condition is wet but they do well in medium. Their foliage change colours in the fall. #plants #garden #gardening #nativeplants #savethemonarchs

Love the leaves of Wild Ginger. This groundcover is perfect for a shady spot. Please make sure to buy it from a reputable nursery that propagates its own plants. Unfortunately, some companies have sold plants taken from the wild, threatening this species. #nativeplants #gardening #plants #wild

Jack-in-the-pulpit is a spring blooming plant that has the ability to change sex, depending of what other plants grow around it. There are some Jacks and some Jills! #plants #nativeplants #gardening #garden #spottedinthewild

American groundnut (Apios americana) is a nitrogen fixer that is a host plant for the Skipper butterfly. #nativeplant #butterfly #gardening #garden

A Clouded Sulphur butterfly on New England Aster #butterfly #nativeplant #gardening #garden

Pearly everlasting is a short, dry tolerant species that is the host plant for the Painted Lady #plant #gardening #nativeplants #butterfly

This is a Chickweed Geometer Moth. Their host plants are Stellaria, Polygonum and Persicaria species. #moth #butterfly #nativeplants #gardening #garden