Free Native Plant Guides and Catalogues

This is our Reality

Would you crush a groundhog family under the ground with a bulldozer?  Would you shake a bird’s nest out of a tree?  Of course not.  Except that you do multiple times every single day of the year.  I do it too.  That’s how our houses and roads get built.  That’s how our food gets grown.  That’s how the minerals for every thing we use are obtained.  That is how paper is made.  And then when you fail to recycle you double the shaken nests and crushed groundhogs.

Not only is crushing groundhogs and shaking out bird’s nests a fact of daily life, but whole species of wildlife are disappearing from existence on our continent because we are not giving them anywhere to live.  For example, the National Audubon Society paper called “Common Birds in Decline” reports declines in some widespread bird species from 50% to 80% since 1967.

However, we can give back to nature by choosing to grow native plants in our yards, putting back natural habitat into our neighbourhoods to feed and shelter our wildlife, and giving wildlife a place to live along side of us.

If you want more birds, bees, and butterflies then garden with native plants because they feed and shelter our birds, bees, and butterflies.

Gardening Guides - by region

Ontario - March 7, 2025

Native Plant Catalogues - for Ontario (being revised)

Lowland Gardens - water saturated soil for at least part of the year.

Prairie Gardens - full sun with nutrient poor dry sandy or rocky soil including beaches and on bedrock pavement (alvars).

Meadow Gardens - average loamy full sun garden.

Open Woods Gardens - more sun than shade.

Forest Glade Gardens - more shade than sun.

Forest Floor Gardens - full shade.

Full Size Trees - for all the garden types.

Native Plant Index - a summary of every plant found in the other catalogues.

Native Plant Nurseries and Suppliers of Ontario

Suppliers - March 8, 2025

The Six Easy Steps of Native Plant Gardening

1. Determine the type of garden you will have.

2. Choose all the varieties that suit your garden type.

3. Create and keep healthy, fertile soil.

4. Create and keep a healthy undergarden.

5. Practice the Healthy Gardening Style.

6. Attract birds, bees, and butterflies.

The Subjects Covered in the Guides.

Introduction and Photos
Definitions
Resources and Community Groups
Books and PDFs for Knowledge and Inspiration
Frontyard Garden Photos
Summary

Dream Big  -  Garden Big  (the inspirational part)
The Compounding Effect
You too can have a mission
Your ornamental flowers are gorgeous
Fear of Success

What is a Native Plant  (the background part)
Why choose natives?
Native vs Exotic
Do you realize your lawn is a garden?
Where can you garden
Mindless groundcovers
Plant lists
Where to shop
How to shop

Creating your Garden - The Six Easy Steps  (the fun part)
1. Determine your Garden Type
2. Choose all the right varieties
3. Maintain healthy, fertile soil
4. Maintain a healthy Undergarden
5. Practice the Healthy Gardening Style
6. Attract birds, bees, and butterflies

If a Sparrow Falls will you Hear it?

Native Plant Gardening Summary

1. Benefiting nature in your yard benefits wildlife from North to South America.

2. Native Plants evolved right where you live, not anywhere else.

3. They offer more food and shelter to wildlife than exotic plants.

4. Create healthy, fertile soil with organic matter, not chemical fertilizers.

5. Keep soil healthy and fertile by letting plant and animal litter remain on the ground.

6. Determine your garden type by the amount of sun and moisture the site receives.

7. Choose all the varieties of native plants that suit your garden type.

8. Be sure to include lots of grasses and sedges.

9. Your native plants will form a strong, unified, and protective community.

10. Once your garden is planted, don’t dig into it ever again.

11. Attract wildlife with plants, birdbath and feeder, and letting garden litter lie.

12. Tolerate your garden’s insects - they are wildlife and they are food for wildlife.

13. Home windows kill millions of songbirds each year; use bird deterrent decals.

14. Frontyard lawns starve wildlife; replace with a native plant garden.

15. Bottom Line: know your garden, choose the right plant, put that baby in the ground, water it, and then leave it alone to live its own life.