What to look for and where to find native plants
Finding native plants is tricky business. Many nurseries will sell ‘native‘ plants that are not true natives. They are ‘Nativars‘, which are cultivars of a native plant. It is not the same thing. The idea is to keep the native plants without altering it to allow it the best opportunity to support the whole lifecycle of the insect, therefor supporting birds who feed on their caterpillar larvae. One way to tell is to look at the name. If there is the plant name and then another ‘cute’ name in quotes, it is a nativar or cultivar. Sometimes when the genome is changed, it can even be toxic to pollinators.
Our native Ontario Lupin cross pollinate easily with cultivars (those giant beautiful Lupins you see in the Maritimes are invasive and not native), because of this and habitat loss, the Karner Blue butterfly was extirpated from Ontario in 2009. So research your Native Plant nurseries well.
You can find a really great explanation at ecogardens.com
Native Plant Nurseries in Ontario
Some of these are not exclusive to native plants. You need to know what you are looking for.
- Ontario Native Plants
- DIGGIN IT NURSERY
- A Cultivated Art Inc.
- The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library – This is where I sourced the seeds for winter sowing. There is a LOT of information on this site and they have a YouTube Channel to help!
- In Our Nature
- Natural Themes Native Plant Nursery