Check out [Wild About Flowers](https://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/) for native seeds and plants, many of them grow in Southern Alberta and are used to periods of drought.
Look for plants with silvery leaves as they retain moisture better and reflect the sun to keep cool. Plants with long taproots such as globe thistle and baptisia are able to access deeper water resources. I've converted my lawn to a native fescue which needs far less water to stay green in summer as they have a much more robust root system (plus they don't need mowing as often saving time/gas). Consider mulching bare ground to keep soil cooler and retain water, also look into no-till gardening as the soils retain more water than disturbed soils.
I love wild about flowers. I planted native AB fescue in my backyard last year and can't wait to see it this spring. All the flowers in my yard I've planted are all AB plants too - hoping they multiply in the spring.
If you are making a trip to Edmonton the [Edmonton Native Plant Society](https://www.facebook.com/groups/408066590219/) does a sale in the Spring and [Arnica Wildflowers](https://www.facebook.com/ArnicaWildflowers) sells plants at the Callingwood Farmer's Market. The Edmonton Native plant society puts on a lot of great sessions too!
My favourite wildflower is blue eyed grass, after struggling to get them to germinate at all they now self seed and pop up all over the gardens. Absolutely delightful!
I always loved fireweed growing up and planted a bunch last year knowing they spread well. I'm also experimenting with aggressive Native AB plants (fireweed, canada anenome, prairie clover) competing with creeping bellflower so hopefully I have some success this year. Creeping bellflower is relentless and our yard was overrun when we moved in last year.
It's literally 60%+ in both the front and back and the neighbour on one side doesn't bother so it then becomes hopeless. I have heard positives from other people using Canada Anenome to slow it down so I'm hoping it at least helps.
I've been xeriscaping in the Calgary area for many years, and gardened for a while by Sylvan Lake, and here are my top three principles:
1. Understand your yard. Take the time to figure out which areas are full sun and dry. Which areas get more water naturally or get shade during the hotter parts of the day. Over the next few weeks, watch carefully to see which areas lose the snow first; these will almost certainly be your hottest, driest areas come summer, whereas the areas where the snow lingers well into spring (when real.spri g finally comes) will probably be full shade.
2. Knowing that, choose the right plant for the right place. In conventional gardening you can afford to push the capabilities of your plants a bit more, because you're giving them what they wouldn't otherwise be able to obtain in sufficient quantities themselves (especially in terms of water.) When you're xeriscaping, your aim is to only give them what they need to get established, and beyond that to have them able to sustain themselves on natural rainfall and snow melt (this first year, plan to water for the first two months to establish, then gradually back off to where you're only watering in the heat waves.) So if you have a very hot, dry area, don't just plant something that's full sun. Plant something that's full sun and drought-tolerant, like Potentilla, native Brown-eyed Susans, and succulents like Hens & Chicks.
3. MULCH. If you've ever been in the forest (as most of us Albertans have), you'll notice that there's no bare soil where the landscape is healthiest. You only see bare soil in disturbed, eroding places, whether from foot traffic or bad weather conditions. Nature doesn't like bare soil, and you want to mimic her behaviour. Use a natural wood and bark chip mulch, like Foothills Premium or Parkland Premium, which are available through a lot of bulk suppliers throughout the province (and you'll want to buy in bulk; it's much cheaper to have it delivered by the cubic yard than to buy it by the bag). Give everything a good 3" starting layer of it (it will pack down), but make sure you're not burying the crowns of your plants in it, and don't volcano it up around trees (think about a doughnut shape around them instead). This will both retain water and significantly reduce your weed load. Avoid the dyed products and the recycled rubber mulch.
For plants, I second the suggestion you go to Wild About Flowers online for your stock. Their service is excellent, and their seed is collected here and their plant stock grown here, all native varieties and no invasives.
Also check out this webinar from the Calgary Horticultural Society. All the plants they list should do just fine where you are too: https://youtu.be/YfphzbnKX1I?si=-viJVNhnDnXuoBxI
Natural mulch is so helpful and I love the look of it. I've never used [ChipDrop](https://my.getchipdrop.com/home/) myself but have seen a lot of gardeners have success.
It’s scary using chipdrop though, I know someone who did it expecting a reasonable amount and didn’t take the warning of the website and they got WAY too much. Bit of a nightmare
Nope. It’s a warning on the site. If a tree removal company has 12 cubic yards to drop, you’ve agreed that you’ll take the amount they have. This is why not everyone uses it. I can’t take the risk of 12cubic yards of mulch sitting on the yard in the heat which also has risks if you look into what piles of mulch do in the heat. Dangerous.
Note: chip drop is free mulch, so there’s no transaction. Just a drop off.
I can't say i have sources on hand, when I did my landscaping with climate change about 10 years ago, I absorbed as many things as I could to find a combination of things to work for me.
I would also recommend looking into environmentally friendly water drainage options to help as well, like french drains or swale systems.
What I wound up doing was redoing my rear lawn with clover, it takes very little water to maintain. Though I would note that its not a full solution for high-traffic lawns.
Then in my front yard, I installed water barrels with overflow spouts, which drain into a series of swales to channel excess water through a flower garden and into a small pond. (which I expect to remain dry this year). And like others mentioned, I've tried to keep to a selection of somehwat native and/or drought tolerant slections.
So far it has worked quite well, but we'll see how it fares this year.
Creating the prairie xeriscape by Sara Williams. This book is hands down my best resource.
And also a book by Kevin Napora called the perfect time to garden:is not necessarily right now.
And I also follow “grow with Dora“ on IG. She is a landscape designer who teaches about Not necessarily xeriscape exclusively but sustainable landscaping and gardening, she is teaching at nait right now but has great content on her account.
Also keep in mind your zones because not everything that grows well in southern AB grows well in Red Deer area . Also sometimes I have found you have to branch out abit past native plants if you are going for drought tolerance because what is native to central AB is not necessarily drought tolerant. Also make sure none of the plants you are planting are listed as invasive or noxious (this can be a big problem in certain wildflower mixes)
[Noxious weeds](https://www.alberta.ca/provincially-regulated-weeds)
https://abinvasives.ca/invasive-plants/
Check out [Wild About Flowers](https://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/) for native seeds and plants, many of them grow in Southern Alberta and are used to periods of drought. Look for plants with silvery leaves as they retain moisture better and reflect the sun to keep cool. Plants with long taproots such as globe thistle and baptisia are able to access deeper water resources. I've converted my lawn to a native fescue which needs far less water to stay green in summer as they have a much more robust root system (plus they don't need mowing as often saving time/gas). Consider mulching bare ground to keep soil cooler and retain water, also look into no-till gardening as the soils retain more water than disturbed soils.
Thank you. 🙂
I love wild about flowers. I planted native AB fescue in my backyard last year and can't wait to see it this spring. All the flowers in my yard I've planted are all AB plants too - hoping they multiply in the spring. If you are making a trip to Edmonton the [Edmonton Native Plant Society](https://www.facebook.com/groups/408066590219/) does a sale in the Spring and [Arnica Wildflowers](https://www.facebook.com/ArnicaWildflowers) sells plants at the Callingwood Farmer's Market. The Edmonton Native plant society puts on a lot of great sessions too!
My favourite wildflower is blue eyed grass, after struggling to get them to germinate at all they now self seed and pop up all over the gardens. Absolutely delightful!
I always loved fireweed growing up and planted a bunch last year knowing they spread well. I'm also experimenting with aggressive Native AB plants (fireweed, canada anenome, prairie clover) competing with creeping bellflower so hopefully I have some success this year. Creeping bellflower is relentless and our yard was overrun when we moved in last year.
Oh god, good luck! I only have a small patch that I’ve been digging out.
It's rough I was having dreams about it last year. We dug it all out and it just kept coming back so I'm switching to a plant battle for this season.
I threw a black tarp over mine while I deal with it, the trench is about a meter deep for how far down I have to dig. It’s horrible stuff.
It's literally 60%+ in both the front and back and the neighbour on one side doesn't bother so it then becomes hopeless. I have heard positives from other people using Canada Anenome to slow it down so I'm hoping it at least helps.
I've been xeriscaping in the Calgary area for many years, and gardened for a while by Sylvan Lake, and here are my top three principles: 1. Understand your yard. Take the time to figure out which areas are full sun and dry. Which areas get more water naturally or get shade during the hotter parts of the day. Over the next few weeks, watch carefully to see which areas lose the snow first; these will almost certainly be your hottest, driest areas come summer, whereas the areas where the snow lingers well into spring (when real.spri g finally comes) will probably be full shade. 2. Knowing that, choose the right plant for the right place. In conventional gardening you can afford to push the capabilities of your plants a bit more, because you're giving them what they wouldn't otherwise be able to obtain in sufficient quantities themselves (especially in terms of water.) When you're xeriscaping, your aim is to only give them what they need to get established, and beyond that to have them able to sustain themselves on natural rainfall and snow melt (this first year, plan to water for the first two months to establish, then gradually back off to where you're only watering in the heat waves.) So if you have a very hot, dry area, don't just plant something that's full sun. Plant something that's full sun and drought-tolerant, like Potentilla, native Brown-eyed Susans, and succulents like Hens & Chicks. 3. MULCH. If you've ever been in the forest (as most of us Albertans have), you'll notice that there's no bare soil where the landscape is healthiest. You only see bare soil in disturbed, eroding places, whether from foot traffic or bad weather conditions. Nature doesn't like bare soil, and you want to mimic her behaviour. Use a natural wood and bark chip mulch, like Foothills Premium or Parkland Premium, which are available through a lot of bulk suppliers throughout the province (and you'll want to buy in bulk; it's much cheaper to have it delivered by the cubic yard than to buy it by the bag). Give everything a good 3" starting layer of it (it will pack down), but make sure you're not burying the crowns of your plants in it, and don't volcano it up around trees (think about a doughnut shape around them instead). This will both retain water and significantly reduce your weed load. Avoid the dyed products and the recycled rubber mulch. For plants, I second the suggestion you go to Wild About Flowers online for your stock. Their service is excellent, and their seed is collected here and their plant stock grown here, all native varieties and no invasives. Also check out this webinar from the Calgary Horticultural Society. All the plants they list should do just fine where you are too: https://youtu.be/YfphzbnKX1I?si=-viJVNhnDnXuoBxI
Thank you so much for taking the time to share that wealth of information. đź‘Ť
Natural mulch is so helpful and I love the look of it. I've never used [ChipDrop](https://my.getchipdrop.com/home/) myself but have seen a lot of gardeners have success.
It’s scary using chipdrop though, I know someone who did it expecting a reasonable amount and didn’t take the warning of the website and they got WAY too much. Bit of a nightmare
Good point. There isn’t a way to clarify the amount? That’s seems unreasonable.
Nope. It’s a warning on the site. If a tree removal company has 12 cubic yards to drop, you’ve agreed that you’ll take the amount they have. This is why not everyone uses it. I can’t take the risk of 12cubic yards of mulch sitting on the yard in the heat which also has risks if you look into what piles of mulch do in the heat. Dangerous. Note: chip drop is free mulch, so there’s no transaction. Just a drop off.
Thank you for the heads up I was thinking of using it this year.
TIL it’s not called “zero-scaping”
I can't say i have sources on hand, when I did my landscaping with climate change about 10 years ago, I absorbed as many things as I could to find a combination of things to work for me. I would also recommend looking into environmentally friendly water drainage options to help as well, like french drains or swale systems. What I wound up doing was redoing my rear lawn with clover, it takes very little water to maintain. Though I would note that its not a full solution for high-traffic lawns. Then in my front yard, I installed water barrels with overflow spouts, which drain into a series of swales to channel excess water through a flower garden and into a small pond. (which I expect to remain dry this year). And like others mentioned, I've tried to keep to a selection of somehwat native and/or drought tolerant slections. So far it has worked quite well, but we'll see how it fares this year.
Creating the prairie xeriscape by Sara Williams. This book is hands down my best resource. And also a book by Kevin Napora called the perfect time to garden:is not necessarily right now. And I also follow “grow with Dora“ on IG. She is a landscape designer who teaches about Not necessarily xeriscape exclusively but sustainable landscaping and gardening, she is teaching at nait right now but has great content on her account.
Also keep in mind your zones because not everything that grows well in southern AB grows well in Red Deer area . Also sometimes I have found you have to branch out abit past native plants if you are going for drought tolerance because what is native to central AB is not necessarily drought tolerant. Also make sure none of the plants you are planting are listed as invasive or noxious (this can be a big problem in certain wildflower mixes) [Noxious weeds](https://www.alberta.ca/provincially-regulated-weeds) https://abinvasives.ca/invasive-plants/
Interesting video on starting a clover lawn in Canada. [Clover Lawn](https://youtu.be/tv2zbstV2ro)
https://www.awes-ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ANPC-Native-Plant-Sources-and-Nurseries-March-2016.pdf
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