Plan your garden

The best way to confirm a plant is native is to buy them from trusted sources. Trusted sources declare where their seeds or plants come from, and confirm that they have been harvested ethically. 

But if you're out at a garden centre or nursery and a plant catches your eye that says "native" on the plant tag, you can double check by entering the LATIN name of the plant into VASCAN's search function (this is THE resource for native plants in Ontario). Note that this search function doesn't work well with common names, so please only use the Latin name. 

To learn more about how to use VASCAN, you can watch this video by Sundaura Alford-Parvis.

 Many plants in garden centres are actually cultivars of native plants. These plants were originally native but genetically modified for a specific characteristic (brighter colour, longer blooming period, etc.). A great example of this is Black Eyed Susan "Goldstrum". Notice the use of quotation marks on the cultivar name of the plant. If you see a plant with a Latin (or English) name and then a name in quotation marks, it's definitely NOT native. 

These cultivars may still hold some benefit for pollinators (the plant tag will most likely tell you that it's "bee friendly" or "attracts butterflies"), but it's mostly beneficial in the same way that dandelions are junk food for native bees. Sure you may see a pollinator at the plant, but it's not getting the same nutritional value that a native plant will offer. Or that plant may be beneficial for non native pollinators (like honey bees) instead of local native pollinators. This is why we promote native plants so much. Think of cultivars as junk food and native plants as a healthy nutritious meal. 

In the interest of keeping your carbon footprint low, and making sure that your plants are native to our region, consider sourcing and purchasing your plants locally. Here are some companies that we recommend:

• A Cultivated Art (seedlings only with limited pick up options)
• Beaux Arbres Plantes Indigènes/ Native Plants (near Quyon, Québec - they also deliver and have booths around Ottawa at various events)
• Ferguson Tree Nursery (located in Kemptville)
• Fletcher Wildlife Garden plant sale
• Solidago Farm
• Connaught Nursery 

 If you can't find what you're looking for in town, you can purchase native plants or seeds from the following online retailers.  

• Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds 
• Naturaide - here is their 2023 plant list
• Ontario Native Plants
• Prairie Moon Nursery (this company is out of the US so you'll need to make sure that you've already confirmed if the plant/seeds you're buying are native to Ontario. You can do that by cross referencing the Latin Name using the VASCAN tool mentioned above or by visiting A Cultivated Art's website that has a good list of local native plants).

You may have noticed that some box stores like Loblaws, Home Depot, Ritchies etc. are selling native plants this year. Caution should be used as their "native" or "wildflower" labels can be misleading. 

• Canadian Tire sells a brand called Ontario Natives. That name is literally a brand name and some of their plants aren't native to Eastern Ontario/Western Quebec, nor were the seeds they were grown from from seeds in Canada. Some of their plants are legit natives, but you may want to cross reference the plant's latin name on their plant tags with a Google search to make sure. 
  Home Depot is selling Canadian Wildlife Federation plants in cartons of 4. Not all of the plants are native, but they are all pollinator friendly. 
• Ritchies is selling a number of native plants (though their different locations seem to sell completely different stock) and they don't have a dedicated section for native plants. 
• Loblaws/Independent Grocer is selling native plants under a company/plant tag called In the Zone. Some also have the WWF logo on them. These are all legit native pollinator plants.